FRANCE    AND    ENGLAND 


NORTH    AMERICA. 


A  SERIES  OF  HISTORICAL  NARRATIVES. 


FRANCIS   PARKMAN, 


AUTHOR    OF     "HISTORY  OF  THE   CONSPIRACY  OF    PONTIAC,"     "  PRAIRIE    AND 
ROCKY  MOUNTAIN   LIFE,"    ETC. 


PART  THIRD. 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,   AND    COMPANY. 

1869. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

Francis  Parkman, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


CAMBRIDGE : 
PRESS   OF  JOHN  WILSON  AND   SON. 


THE 


DISCOVERY 


GREAT     WEST. 


FRANCIS   PARKMAN, 


AUTHOE     OF     "PIONEERS     OF     FRANCE     IN    THE    NEW    WORLD,"    AND    "  THE 
JESUITS   IN  NORTH  AMERICA." 


BOSTON: 
LITTLE,   BROWN,  AND    COMPANY. 

1869. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1869,  by 

Francis  Parkman, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 


I_/1-Nl  Yi-f-vJi  * 


SftfTA  BARBARA  COLLEGE  LIBRAKi 


TO   THE    CLASS   OF    1844, 

HARVARD    COLLEGE, 

THIS     BOOK     IS     CORDIALLY     DEDICATED 

BY    ONE    OF     THEIR    NUMBER. 


PREFACE. 


The  discovery  of  the  "  Great  West,"  or  the 
valleys  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Lakes,  is  a  por- 
tion of  our  history  hitherto  very  obscure.  Those 
magnificent  regions  were  revealed  to  the  world 
through  a  series  of  daring  enterprises,  of  which 
the  motives  and  even  the  incidents  have  been 
but  partially  and  superficially  known.  The  chief 
actor  in  them  wrote  much,  but  printed  nothing ; 
and  the  published  writings  of  his  associates  stand 
wofully  in  need  of  interpretation  from  the  un- 
published documents  which  exist,  but  which  have 
not  heretofore  been  used  as  material  for  history. 

This  volume  attempts  to  supply  the  defect.  Of 
the  large  amount  of  wholly  new  material  employed 
in  it,  by  far  the  greater  part  is  drawn  from  the 
various  public  archives  of  France,  and  the  rest 
from  private  sources.     The  discovery  of  many  of 


Vlii  PREFACE. 

these  documents  is  due  to  the  indefatigable  re- 
search of  M.  Pierre  Margry,  assistant  custodian  of 
the  Archives  of  the  Marine  and  Colonies  at  Paris, 
whose  labors  as  an  investigator  of  the  maritime  and 
colonial  history  of  France  can  be  appreciated  only 
by  those  who  have  seen  their  results.  In  the  de- 
partment of  American  colonial  history,  these  results 
have  been  invaluable ;  for,  besides  several  private 
collections  made  by  him,  he  rendered  important 
service  in  the  collection  of  the  French  portion  of 
the  Brodhead  documents,  selected  and  arranged  the 
two  great  series  of  colonial  papers  ordered  by  the 
Canadian  government,  and  prepared,  with  vast 
labor,  analytical  indexes  of  these  and  of  supple- 
mentary documents  in  the  French  archives,  as  well 
as  a  copious  index  of  the  mass  of  papers  relating 
to  Louisiana.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  valuable 
publications  on  the  maritime  history  of  France 
which  have  appeared  from  his  pen  are  an  earnest 
of  more  extended  contributions  in  future. 

The  late  President  Sparks,  some  time  after  the 
publication  of  his  life  of  La  Salle,  caused  a  col- 
lection to  be  made  of  documents  relating  to  that 
explorer,  with  the  intention  of  incorporating  them 
in  a  future  edition.  This  intention  was  never  carried 
into  effect,  and  the  documents  were  never  used. 
With    the    liberality    which    always    distinguished 


PREFACE.  IX 

him,  he  placed  them  at  my  disposal,  and  this  privi- 
lege has  been  kindly  continued  by  Mrs.  Sparks. 

Abbe  Faillon,  the  learned  author  of  "  La  Colonie 
Francaise  en  Canada,"  has  sent  me  copies  of  vari- 
ous documents  found  by  him,  including  family 
papers  of  La  Salle.  Among  others  who  in  various 
ways  have  aided  my  inquiries,  are  Dr.  John  Paul, 
of  Ottawa,  111. ;  Count  Adolphe  de  Circourt  and 
M.  Jules  Marcou,  of  Paris ;  M.  A.  Gerin  Lajoie, 
Assistant  Librarian  of  the  Canadian  Parliament ; 
M.  J.  M.  Le  Moine,  of  Quebec  ;  General  Dix, 
Minister  of  the  United  States  at  the  Court  of 
France ;  O.  H.  Marshall,  of  Buffalo ;  J.  G.  Shea, 
of  New  York ;  Buckingham  Smith,  of  St.  Augus- 
tine ;  and  Colonel  Thomas  Aspinwall,  of  Boston. 

The  map  contained  in  the  book  is  a  portion  of 
the  great  manuscript  map  of  Franquelin,  of  which 
an  account  will  be  found  in  the  Appendix. 

The  next  volume  of  the  series  will  be  devoted 
to  the  efforts  of  Monarchy  and  Feudalism  under 
Louis  XIV.  to  establish  a  permanent  power  on 
this  continent,  and  to  the  stormy  career  of  Louis 
de  Buade,  Count  of  Frontenac. 

Boston,  16  September,  1869. 


CONTENTS. 


Introduction xix 

CHAPTER  I. 

1643-1669. 

cavelier  de  la  salle. 

Page 
The  Youth  of  La  Salle.  —  His  Connection  with  the  Jesuits.  —  He  goes  to 
Canada.  —  His  Character.  —  His   Schemes.  —  His   Seigniory  at  La 
Chine.  —  His  Expedition  in  Search  of  a  Western  Passage  to  India.    . 


iv 


CHAPTER  II. 
1669-1671. 

LA  SALLE  AND   THE   SULPITIANS. 

The  French  in  Western  New  York.  —  Louis  Joliet.  —  The  Sulpitians  on 
Lake  Erie.  —  At  Detroit.  —  At  Saut  Ste.  Marie.  —  The  Mystery  of  La 
Salle.  —  He  discovers  the  Ohio.  —  He  descends  the  Illinois.  —  Did  he 
reach  the  Mississippi  ? 12  • 

CHAPTER  III. 

1670-1672. 

"■THE  JESUITS   ON   THE  LAKES. 

The  Old  Missions  and  the  New.  —  A  Change  of  Spirit.  —  Lake  Superior 
and  the  Copper  Mines.  —  Ste.  Marie.  —  La  Pointe.  —  Michillimackinac. 
—  Jesuits  on  Lake  Michigan.  —  Allouez   and  Dablon.  —  The  Jesuit 

Fur-Trade 26 

6 


Xll  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

1667-1672. 

france  takes  possession  of  the  west. 

Page 

Talori.  —  St.  Lusson.  —  Perrot.  —  The  Ceremony  at  Saut  Ste.  Marie.  — 

The  Speech  of  Allouez. —  Count  Frontenac 37 

CHAPTER   V. 
*  1672-1675. 

THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI. 

Joliet  sent  to  find  the  Mississippi.  —  Jacques  Marquette.  —  Departure.  — 
Green  Bay.  —  The  Wisconsin. — The  Mississippi. — Indians.  —  Mani- 
tous.  —  The  Arkansas.  —  The  Illinois.  —  Joliet's  Misfortune.  —Mar- 
quette at  Chicago. —  His  Illness. —  His  Death 48 

v 

CHAPTER   VI. 

1673-1678. 

LA   SALLE  AND   FRONTENAC. 

Objects  of  La  Salle.  — His  Difficulties.  —  Official  Corruption  in  Canada.— 
The  Governor  of  Montreal.  —  Projects  of  Frontenac.  —  Cataraqui. — 
Frontenac  on  Lake  Ontario.  —  Fort  Frontenac.  —  Success  of  La  Salle  .      73 

CHAPTER  VH. 
1674-1678. 

LA  SALLE  AND  THE  JESUITS. 

The  Abbe"   Fe*nelon.—  He  attacks  the  Governor.  —  The  Enemies  of  La 

Salle.—  Aims  of  the  Jesuits.  —Their  Hostility  to  La  Salle    ....      92 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

1678. 

PARTY  STRIFE. 

La  Salle  and  his  Reporter.  —  Jesuit  Ascendancy.  —  The  Missions  and  the 
Fur-Trade.  —  Female  Inquisitors.  —  Plots  against  La  Salle.  —  His 
Brother  the  Priest.  —  Intrigues  of  the  Jesuits.  —  La  Salle  poisoned.  — 
He  exculpates  the  Jesuits. — Renewed  Intrigues 101 ' 


CONTENTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  IX. 

1677-1678. 

the  grand  enterprise. 

Page 
La  Salle  at  Fort  Frontenac.  —  La  Salle  at  Court.  —  His  Plans  approved.  — 

Henri  de  Tonty.  —  Preparation  for  Departure 114  [/ 

CHAPTER  X. 
1678-1679. 

LA   SALLE   AT  NIAGARA. 

Father  Louis  Hennepin.  —  His  Past  Life ;  His  Character.  —  Embarkation. 
—  Niagara  Falls.  —  Indian  Jealousy.  —  La  Motte  and  the  Senecas.  — 
A  Disaster.  —  La  Salle  and  his  Followers 119  u 


CHAPTER  XI. 

1679. 

THE   LAUNCH  OF   THE   "GRIFFIN." 

The  Niagara  Portage.  — A  Vessel  on  the  Stocks. —  Suffering  and  Discon- 
tent.—  La  Salle's  Winter  Journey.  —  The  Vessel  launched.  —  Fresh 
Disasters       132 

CHAPTER  XII. 

1679. 

LA  SALLE  ON  THE  UPPER  LAKES. 

The  Voyage  of  the  "Griffin." — Detroit.  —  A  Storm.  —  St.  Ignace  of  Mich- 
illimackinac.  —  Rivals  and  Enemies. —  Lake  Michigan. —  Hardships. 

—  A    Threatened    Fight.  —  Fort   Miami. — Tonty's    Misfortunes. — 
Forebodings 139  " 

CHAPTER  XIII. 

167Q-1680. 

LA   SALLE  ON  THE  ILLINOIS. 

The  St.  Joseph.  —  Adventure  of  La  Salle.  —  The  Prairies.  — Famine.  — 

The  Great  Town  of  the  Illinois.  —  Indians.  —  Intrigues.  —  Difficulties.  * 

—  Policy  of  La  Salle'.  — Desertion.  — Another  Attempt  to  poison  him  .     151 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XIV. 

1680. 

fort  crevecceur. 

Page 

Building  of  the  Fort.  — Loss  of  the  "Griffin."— A  Bold  Resolution.— 
Another  Vessel.  —  Hennepin  sent  to  the  Mississippi.  —  Departure  of 
La  Salle 16r  " 

CHAPTER   XV. 

1680. 

HARDIHOOD   OF  LA   SALLE. 

The   Winter  Journey.  —  The  Deserted   Town.  —  Starved  Rock.  —  Lake 

Michigan.  —  The  Wilderness.  —  War  Parties.  —  La  Salle's  Men  give  / 

out.  —  HI  Tidings.  —  Mutiny.  —  Chastisement  of  the  Mutineers      .    .     175  v 


CHAPTER  XVL 

1680. 

INDIAN   CONQUERORS. 


The  Enterprise  renewed.  —  Attempt  to  rescue  Tonty.  —  Buffalo.  —  A 
Frightful  Discovery.  — Iroquois  Fury. —  The  Ruined  Town.  —  A  Night 
of  Horror.  —  Traces  of  the  Invaders.  —  No  News  of  Tonty      ....     187  V 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

1680. 

TONTY   AND   THK   IROQUOIS. 

The  Deserters.  —  The  Iroquois  War.  — The  Great  Town  of  the  Illinois.  — 
The  Alarm.  —  Onset  of  the  Iroquois.  —  Peril  of  Tonty.  —  A  Treacher- 
ous Truce.  —  Intrepidity  of  Tonty.  —  Murder  of  Ribourde.  —  War  upon 
the  Dead 200 

CHAPTER  XVLU. 

1680. 

THE   ADVENTURES   OF    HENNEPIN. 

Hennepin  an  Impostor. — His  Pretended  Discovery. — His  Actual  Dis- 
covery.— Captured  by  the  Sioux.  —  The  Upper  Mississippi    ....     223 


CONTENTS.  XV 

CHAPTEK  XIX. 

1680,  1681. 

hennepin  among  the  sioux. 

Page 
Signs  of  Danger.  —  Adoption.  — Hennepin  and  his  Indian  Relatives.  —  The 
Hunting-Party.  —  The   Sioux  Camp.  —  Falls  of  St.   Anthony.  —  A 
Vagabond  Friar.  —  His  Adventures  on  the  Mississippi.  —  Greysolon 
Du  Lhut.  —  Return  to  Civilization 239 

CHAPTER  XX. 

1681. 

LA  SALLE  BEGINS  ANEW. 

His  Constancy.  —  His  Plans.  —  His  Savage  Allies.  —  He  becomes  Snow- 
blind. —  Negotiations.  —  Grand  Council.  —  La  Salle's  Oratory.  —  Meet- 
ing with  Tonty.  —  Preparation.  —  Departure 260 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

1681-1682. 

SUCCESS  OF  LA   SALLE. 

His  Followers.  —  The  Chicago  Portage.  —  Descent  of  the  Mississippi. — 
The  Lost  Hunter.  —  The  Arkansas.  —  The  Taensas.  —  The  Natchez. 
—  Hostility.  — The  Mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  — Louis  XIV.  proclaimed 
Sovereign  of  the  Great  West 271 

CHAPTER  XXII. 

1682-1683. 

ST.   LOUIS  OF  THE  ILLINOIS. 

Louisiana.  —  Illness  of  La  Salle. — His  Colony  on  the  Illinois. — Fort  St. 
Louis.  —  Recall  of  Frontenac.  — Le  Fevre  de  laBarre.  —  Critical  Posi- 
tion of  La  Salle.  —  Hostility  of  the  New  Governor.  —  Triumph  of  the 
Adverse  Faction.  —  La  Salle  sails  for  France 284 


XVI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

1684. 

a  new  enterprise. 

Page 

La  Salle  at  Court.  — His  Proposals.  —  Occupation  of  Louisiana.  —  Inva- 
sion of  Mexico.  —  Royal  Favor.  —  Preparation.  —  The  Naval  Com- 
mander. —  His  Jealousy  of  La  Salle.  —  Dissensions 302 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

|      1684-1685. 

LA   SALLE  IN  TEXAS. 

Departure. —  Quarrels  with  Beaujeu. —  St.  Domingo.  — La  Salle  attacked 
with  Fever.  —  His  Desperate  Condition.  —  The  Gulf  of  Mexico.  —  A 
Fatal  Error.  —  Landing.  —  Wreck  of  the   "Aimable." — Indian  At- 
tack.—  Treachery  of  Beaujeu.  —  Omens  of  Disaster 315 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

1685-1687. 

ST.   LOUIS  OF  TEXAS. 

The  Fort.  —  Misery  and  Dejection.  —  Energy  of  La  Salle.  — His  Journey 
of  Exploration. — Duhaut. — Indian  Massacre.  —  Return  of  La  Salle. 

—  A   New   Calamity.  —  A    Desperate    Resolution.  —  Departure    for 
Canada.  —  Wreck  of  the  "  Belle  "  —  Marriage.  —  Sedition.  —  Adven- 
tures of  La  Salle's  Party.  —  The    Cenis.  —  The   Camanches.  —  The 
Only  Hope:  —  The  Last  Farewell 333 

CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1687. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  LA  SALLE. 

His  Followers.  —  Prairie  Travelling.  —  A  Hunter's  Quarrel.  —  The  Murder 
of  Moranget.  —  The  Conspiracy.  —  Death  of  La  Salle.  —  His  Char- 
acter     355 

CHAPTER  XXVTI. 

1687,  1688. 

THE  INNOCENT  AND  THE   GUILTT. 

Triumph  of  the  Murderers.  — Joutel  among  the  Cenis.  —  White  Savages. 

—  Insolence  of  Duhaut  and  his  Accomplices. — Murder  of  Duhaut  and 


CONTENTS.  XV11 


Paqe 
Liotot. — Hiens,    the    Buccaneer.  —  Joutel    and    his    Party.  —  Their 
Escape.  —  They  reach   the  Arkansas.  —  Bravery  and    Devotion    of 
Tonty.  —  The  Fugitives  reach  the   Illinois.  —  Unworthy  Conduct  of 
Cavelier.  —  He  and  his  Companions  return  to  France 369 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

1688-1689. 

FATE  OF  THE  TEXAN   COLONY. 

Tonty  attempts  to  rescue  the  Colonists.  — His  Difficulties  and  Hardships. 
—  Spanish  Hostility.  —  Expedition  of  Alonzo  De  Leon.  —  He  reaches 
Fort  St.  Louis.  —  A  Scene  of  Havoc.  —  Destruction  of  the  French.  — 
The  End 394 

Appendix. 

I.  Early  unpublished  Maps  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Great  Lakes    .     .     .     405 

II.  The  Eldorado  of  Mathieu  Sagean 413 


INDEX 417 


6* 


icaooctne 


-*WOWN|A 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  Spaniards  discovered  the  Mississippi.  De  Soto 
was  buried  beneath  its  waters  ;  and  it  was  down  its  muddy 
current  that  his  followers  fled  from  the  Eldorado  of  their 
dreams,  transformed  to  a  dismal  wilderness  of  misery 
and  death.  The  discovery  was  never  used,  and  was  well- 
nigh  forgotten.  On  early  Spanish  maps,  the  Mississippi 
is  often  indistinguishable  from  other  affluents  of  the 
Gulf.  A  century  passed  after  De  Soto's  journeyings  in 
the  South,  before  a  French  explorer  reached  a  northern 
tributary  of  the  great  river. 

This  was  Jean  Nicollet,  interpreter  at  Three  Rivers  on 
the  St.  Lawrence.  He  had  been  some  twenty  years  in 
Canada,  had  lived  among  the  savage  Algonquins  of 
Allumette  Island,  and  spent  eight  or  nine  years  among 
the  Nipissings,  on  the  lake  which  bears  their  name.  Here 
he  became  an  Indian  in  all  his  habits,  but  remained, 
nevertheless,  a  zealous  Catholic,  and  returned  to  civi- 
lization at  last  because  he  could  not  live  without  the 
sacraments.  Strange  stories  were  current  among  the 
Nipissings  of  a  people  without  hair  and  without  beards, 
who  came  from  the  West  to  trade  with  a  tribe  beyond 
the  Great  Lakes.  Who  could  doubt  that  these  strangers 
were  Chinese  or  Japanese  ?    Such  tales  may  well  have 


XX  INTHOJUCTION. 

excited  Nicollet's  curiosity ;  and  when,  in  or  before  the 
year  1639,  he  was  sent  as  an  ambassador  to  the  tribe  in 
question,  he  would  not  have  been  surprised  if  on  arriving 
he  had  found  a  party  of  mandarins  among  them.  Possi- 
bly it  was  with  a  view  to  such  a  contingency  that  he 
provided  himself,  as  a  dress  of  ceremony,  with  a  robe 
of  Chinese  damask  embroidered  with  birds  and  flowers. 
The  tribe  to  which  he  was  sent  was  that  of  the  Winneba- 
goes,  living  near  the  head  of  the  Green  Bay  of  Lake 
Michigan.  They  had  come  to  blows  with  the  Hurons, 
allies  of  the  French ;  and  Nicollet  was  charged  to  nego- 
tiate a  peace.  When  he  approached  the  Winnebago 
town,  he  sent  one  of  his  Indian  attendants  to  announce 
his  coming,  put  on  his  robe  of  damask,  and  advanced  to 
meet  the  expectant  crowd  with  a  pistol  in  each  hand. 
The  squaws  and  children  fled,  screaming  that  it  was  a 
manito,  or  spirit,  armed  with  thunder  and  lightning ;  but 
the  chiefs  and  warriors  regaled  him  with  so  bountiful  a 
hospitality  that  a  hundred  and  twenty  beavers  were 
devoured  at  a  single  feast.  From  the  Winnebagoes,  he 
passed  westward,  ascended  Fox  River,  crossed  to  the 
Wisconsin,  and  descended  it  so  far  that,  as  he  reported 
on  his  return,  in  three  days  more  he  would  have  reached 
the  sea.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  he  mistook  the 
meaning  of 'his  Indian  guides,  and  that  the  "great 
water  "  to  which  he  was  so  near  was  not  the  sea,  but  the 
Mississippi. 

It  has  been  affirmed  that  one  Colonel  Wood,  of  Vir- 
ginia, reached  a  branch  of  the  Mississippi  as  early  as  the 
year  1654,  and  that,  about  1670,  a  certain  Captain  Bolton 
penetrated  to  the  river  itself.  Neither  statement  is 
improbable,  but  neither  is  sustained  by  sufficient  evi- 
dence. Meanwhile,  French  Jesuits  and  fur-traders  pushed 
deeper  and  deeper  into  the  wilderness  of  the  northern 
lakes.     In  1641,  Jogues  and  Raymbault  preached  the 


INTRODUCTION.  XXI 

Faith  to  a  concourse  of  Indians  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Superior.  Then  came  the  havoc  and  desolation  of  the 
Iroquois  war,  and,  for  years,  farther  exploration  was 
arrested.  At  length,  in  1658,  two  daring  traders  pene- 
trated to  Lake  Superior,  wintered  there,  and  brought 
back  the  tales  they  had  heard  of  the  ferocious  Sioux 
and  of  a  great  western  river  on  which  they  dwelt.  Two 
years  later,  the  aged  Jesuit,  Menard,  attempted  to  plant 
a  mission  on  the  southern  shore  of  the  lake  ;  but  perished 
in  the  forest,  by  famine  or  the  tomahawk.  Allouez  suc- 
ceeded him,  explored  a  part  of  Lake  Superior,  and  heard, 
in  his  turn,  of  the  Sioux  and  their  great  river,  the 
"  Messipi."  More  and  more,  the  thoughts  of  the  Jesuits, 
and  not  of  the  Jesuits  alone,  dwelt  on  this  mysterious 
stream.  Through  what  regions  did  it  flow  ;  and  whither 
would  it  lead  -them ;  to  the  South  Sea  or  the  "  Sea  of 
Virginia  ;  "  to  Mexico,  Japan,  or  China  ?  The  problem 
was  soon  to  be  solved,  and  the  mystery  revealed.  The 
hour  was  come,  and  the  man. 


DISCOVERT    OF    THE    GREAT    WEST. 


J 


THE 


DISCOVERY  OF   THE    GREAT  WEST. 


CHAPTER  I. 

1643-1669. 

CAVELIER  DE   LA   SALLE. 

The  Youth  of  La  Salle.  —  His  Connection  with  the  Jesuits. — He 
goes  to  Canada.  —  His  Character.  —  His  Schemes.  —  His  Seigniory 
at  La  Chine. — His  Expedition  in  Search  of  a  Western  Passage 
to  India. 

Among  the  burghers  of  -Rouen  was  the  old  and 
rich  family  of  the  Caveliers.  Though  citizens  and 
not  nobles,  some  of  their  connections  held  high 
diplomatic  posts  and  honorable  employments  at 
Court.  They  were  destined  to  find  a  better  claim 
to  distinction.  In  1643  was  born  at  Rouen  Robert 
Cavelier,  better  known  by  the  designation  of  La 
Salle.1     His  father  Jean  and  his  uncle  Henri  were 

1  The  following  is  the  acte  de  naissance,  discovered  by  Margry  in  the 
registres  de  I'e'tat  civil,  Paroisse  St.  Herbland,  Rouen.  "Le  vingt-deuxienie 
jour  de  novembre  1643,  a  ete  baptise  Robert  Cavelier,  fils  de  honorable 
hoimne  Jean  Cavelier  et  de  Catherine  Geest ;  ses  parrain  et  marraine 
honorablea  personnes  Nicolas  Geest  et  Marguerite  Morice." 

La  Salle's  name  in  full  was  Rene-Robert  Cavelier,  Sieur  de  la  Salle. 
La  Salle  was  the  name  of  an  estate  near  Rouen,  belonging  to  the  Cave- 
liers. The  wealthy  French  burghers  often  distinguished  the  various 
members  of  their  families  by  designations  borrowed  from  landed  estates. 
Thus,  Francois  Marie  Arouet,  son  of  an  ex-notary,  received  the  name  of 
Voltaire,  which  he  made  famous. 

1 


2  CAVEL1ER  DE   LA  SALLE.  [1666 

wealthy  merchants,-  living  more  like  nobles  than 
like  burghers ;  and  the  boy  received  an  education 
answering  to  the  marked  traits  of  intellect  and 
character  which  he  soon  began  to  display.  He 
showed  an  inclination  for  the  exact  sciences,  and 
especially  for  the  mathematics,  in  which  he  made 
great  proficiency.  At  an  early  age,  it  is  said,  he 
became  connected  with  the  Jesuits ;  and  though 
doubt  has  been  expressed  of  the  statement,  it  is 
probably  true.1 

La  Salle  was  always  an  earnest  Catholic ;  and 
yet,  judging  by  the  qualities  which  his  after  life 
evinced,  he  was  not  very  liable  to  religious  enthu- 
siasm. It  is  nevertheless  clear,  that  the  Society  of 
Jesus  may  have  had  a  powerful  attraction  for  his 
youthful  imagination.  This  great  organization,  so 
complicated  yet  so  harmonious,  a  mighty  machine 
moved  from  the  centre  by  a  single  hand,  was  an 
image  of  regulated  power,  full  of  fascination  for  a 
mind  like  his.  But  if  it  was  likely  that  he  would  be 
drawn  into  it,  it  was  no  less  likely  that  he  would 
soon  wish  to  escape.  '  To  find  himself  not  at  the 
centre  of  power,  but  at  the  circumference  ;  not  the 

1  Margry,  after  investigations  at  Rouen,  is  satisfied  of  its  truth. 
—  Journal  Ge'ne'ral  de  l' Instruction  Publique,  xxxi.  571.  Family  pnpers  of 
the  Caveliers,  examined  by  the  Abbe  Faillon,  and  copies  of  some  of  which 
he  has  sent  to  me,  lead  to  the  same  conclusion.  We  shall  find  several 
allusions  hereafter  to  La  Salle's  having  in  his  youth  taught  in  a  school, 
which,  in  his  position,  could  only  have  been  in  connection  with  some 
religious  community.  The  doubts  alluded  to  have  proceeded  from  the 
failure  of  Father  Felix  Martin,  S.J.,  to  find  the  name  of  La  Salle  on  the 
list  of  novices.  If  he  had  looked  for  the  name  of  Robert  Carelier,  he  would 
probably  have  found  it.  The  companion  of  La  Salle,  Hennepin,  is  very 
explicit  with  regard  to  this  connection  with  the  Jesuits,  —  a  point  on 
which  he  had  no  motive  for  falsehood. 


1666.]  LA   SALLE   AND   THE  JESUITS.  3 

mover,  but  the  moved  ;  the  passive  instrument  of 
another's  will,  taught  to  walk  in  prescribed  paths, 
to  renounce  his  individuality  and  become  a  com- 
ponent atom  of  a  vast  whole,' — would  have  been 
intolerable  to  him.  Nature  had  shaped  him  for 
other  uses  than  to  teach  a  class  of  boys  on  the 
benches  of  a  Jesuit  school.  Nor,  on  his  part,  was 
he  likely  to  please  his  directors  ;  for,  self-controlled 
and  self-contained  as  he  was,  he  was  far  too  in- 
tractable a  subject  to  serve  their  turn.  A  youth 
whose  calm  exterior  hid  an  inexhaustible  fund 
of  pride ;  whose  inflexible  purposes,  nursed  in 
secret,  the  confessional  and  the  "  manifestation  of 
conscience  "  could  hardly  drag  to  the  light ;  whose 
strong  personality  would  not  yield  to  the  shaping 
hand ;  and  who,  by  a  necessity  of  his  nature,  could 
obey  no  initiative  but  his  own,  —  was  not  after 
the  model  that  Loyola  had  commended  to  his  fol- 
lowers. 

La  Salle  left  the  Jesuits,  parting  with  them,  it 
is  said,  on  good  terms,  and  with  a  reputation  of 
excellent  acquirements  and  unimpeachable  morals. 
This  last  is  very  credible.  The  cravings  of  a  deep 
ambition,  the  hunger  of  an  insatiable  intellect,  the 
intense  longing  for  action  and  achievement  sub- 
dued in  him  all  other  passions  ;  and  in  his  faults, 
the  love  of  pleasure  had  no  part.  He  had  an  elder 
brother  in  Canada,  the  Abbe  Jean  Cavelier,  a 
priest  of  St.  Sulpice.  Apparently,  it  was  this  that 
shaped  his  destinies.  His  connection  with  the 
Jesuits  had  deprived  him,  under  the  French  law, 
of  the  inheritance  of  his  father,  who  had  died  not 


I  CAVELIER  DE  LA  SALLE.  [1666. 

Ions  before.  An  allowance  was  made  to  him  of 
three  or,  as  is  elsewhere  stated,  four  hundred  livres 
a  year,  the  capital  of  which  was  paid  over  to  him, 
and  with  this  pittance  he  sailed  for  Canada,  to  seek 
his  fortune,  in  the  spring  of  1666.1 

Next,  we  find  him  at  Montreal.  In  another  vol- 
ume, we  have  seen  how  an  association  of  enthusiastic 
devotees  had  made  a  settlement  at  this  place.2 
Having  in  some  measure  accomplished  its  work,  it 
was  now  dissolved ;  and  the  corporation  of  priests, 
styled  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice,  which  had  taken 
a  prominent  part  in  the  enterprise,  and,  indeed,  had 
been  created  with  a  view  to  it,  was  now  the  pro- 
prietor and  the  feudal  lord  of  Montreal.  It  was 
destined  to  retain  its  seignorial  rights  until  the  abo- 
lition of  the  feudal  tenures  of  Canada  in  our  own 
day,  and  it  still  holds  vast  possessions  in  the  city  and 
island.  These  worthy  ecclesiastics,  models  of  a  dis- 
creet and  sober  conservatism,  were  holding  a  post 
with  which  a  band  of  veteran  soldiers  or  warlike 
frontiersmen  would  have  been  better  matched. 
Montreal  was  perhaps  the  most  dangerous  place  in 
Canada.  In  time  of  war,  which  might  have  been 
called  the  normal  condition  of  the  colony,  it  was  ex- 
posed by  its  position  to  incessant  inroads  of  the  Iro- 
quois, or  Five  Nations,  of  New  York ;  and  no  man 

1  It  does  not  appear  what  vows  La  Salle  had  taken.  By  a  recent 
ordinance,  1666,  persons  entering  religious  orders  could  not  take  the  final 
vows  before  the  age  of  twenty-five.  By  the  family  papers  above  men- 
tioned, it  appears,  however,  that  he  had  brought  himself  under  the  opera- 
tion of  the  law,  which  debarred  those  who,  having  entered  religious  orders, 
afterwards  withdrew,  from  claiming  the  inheritance  of  relatives  who  had 
died  after  their  entrance. 

2  "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America,"  c.  xv. 


1666.]  LA  SALLE   AT   MONTREAL.  5 

could  venture  into  the  forests  or  the  fields  without 
bearing  his  life  in  his  hand.  The  savage  confeder- 
ates had  just  received  a  sharp  chastisement  at  the 
hands  of  Courcelles,  the  governor ;  and  the  result 
was  a  treaty  of  peace,  which  might  at  any  moment 
be  broken,  but  which  was  an  inexpressible  relief 
while  it  lasted. 

The  priests  of  St.  Sulpice  were  granting  out  their 
lands,  on  very  easy  terms,  to  settlers.  They  wished 
to  extend  a  thin  line  of  settlements  along  the  front 
of  their  island,  to  form  a  sort  of  outpost,  from  which 
an  alarm  could  be  given  on  any  descent  of  the  Iro- 
quois. La  Salle  was  the  man  for  such  a  purpose. 
Had  the  priests  understood  him,  —  which  they  evi- 
dently did  not,  for  some  of  them  suspected  him  of 
levity,  the  last  foible  with  which  he  could  be  charged, 
—  had  they  understood  him,  they  would  have  seen 
in  him  a  young  man  in  whom  the  fire  of  youth 
glowed  not  the  less  ardently  for  the  veil  of  reserve 
that  covered  it ;  who  would  shrink  from  no  danger, 
but  would  not  court  it  in  bravado  ;  and  who  would 
cling  with  an  invincible  tenacity  of  gripe  to  any 
purpose  which  he  might  espouse.  There  is  good 
reason  to  think  that  he  had  come  to  Canada  with 
purposes  already  conceived,  and  that  he  was  ready 
to  avail  himself  of  any  stepping-stone  which  might 
help  to  realize  them.  Queylus,  Superior  of  the 
Seminary,  made  him  a  generous  offer;  and  he  ac- 
cepted it.  This  was  the  gratuitous  grant  of  a  large 
tract  of  land  at  the  place  now  called  La  Chine,  above 
the  great  rapids  of  the  same  name,  and  eight  or  nine 

miles  from  Montreal.     On  one  hand,  the  place  was 

l* 


6  CAVELIER  DE  LA  SALLE.  [1666. 

greatly  exposed  to  attack  ;  and  on  the  other,  it  was 
favorably  situated  for  the  fur-trade.  La  Salle  and 
his  successors  became  its  feudal  proprietors,  on  the 
sole  condition  of  delivering  to  the  Seminary,  on 
every  change  of  ownership,  a  medal  of  fine  silver, 
weighing  one  mark.1  He  entered  on  the  improve- 
ment of  his  new  domain,  with  what  means  he  could 
command,  and  began  to  grant  out  his  land  to  such 
settlers  as  would  join  him. 

Approaching  the  shore  where  the  city  of  Montreal 
now  stands,  one  would  have  seen  a  row  of  small 
compact  dwellings,  extending  along  a  narrow  street, 
parallel  to  the  river,  and  then.  ;is  now,  called  St. 
Paul  Street.  On  a  hill  at  the  right  stood  the  wind- 
mill of  the  seigneurs,  built  of  stone,  and  pierced 
with  loop-holes  to  serve,  in  time  of  need,  as  a  place 
of  defence.  .On  the  left,  in  an  angle  formed  by  the 
junction  of  a  rivulet  with  the  St.  Lawrence,  was  a 
square  bastioned  fort  of  stone.  Here  lived  the  mili- 
tary governor,  appointed  by  the  Seminary,  and  com- 
manding a  few  soldiers  of  the  regiment  of  Carignan. 
In  front,  on  the  line  of  the  street,  were  the  enclosure 
and  buildings  of  the  Seminary,  and,  nearly  adjoining 
them,  those  of  the  Hotel-Dieu,  or  Hospital,  both 
provided  for  defence  in  case  of  an  Indian  attack. 
In  the  hospital  enclosure  was  a  small  church,  open- 
ing on  the  street,  and,  in  the  absence  of  any  other, 
serving  for  the  whole  settlement.2 

1  Transport  de  la  Seigneurie  de  St.  Sulpice,  cited  by  Faillon.  La  Salle 
called  his  new  domain  as  above.  Two  or  three  years  later,  it  received 
the  name  of  La  Chine,  for  a  reason  which  will  appear.    . 

2  A  detailed  plan  of  Montreal  at  this  time  is  preserved  in  the  Archives 
de  l'Empire,  and  has  been  reproduced  by  Faillon.     There  is  another,  a 


1667.]  LA   CHINE.  7 

Landing,  passing  the  fort,  and  walking  southward 
along  the  shore,  one  would  soon  have  left  the  rough 
clearings,  and  entered  the  primeval  forest.  Here, 
mile  after  mile,  he  would  have  journeyed  on  in  soli- 
tude, when  the  hoarse  roar  of  the  rapids,  foaming' 
in  fury  on  his  left,  would  have  reached  his  listening 
ear;  and,  at  length,  after  a  walk  of  some  three  hours, 
he  would  have  found  the  rude  beginnings  of  a  set- 
tlement. It  was  where  the  St.  Lawrence  widens 
into  the  broad  expanse  called  the  Lake  of  St.  Louis. 
Here,  La  Salle  had  traced  out  the  circuit  of  a  pali- 
saded village,  and  assigned  to  each  settler  half  an 
arpent,  or  about  a  third  of  an  acre,  within  the  en- 
closure, for  which  he  was  to  render  to  the  young 
seigneur  a  yearly  acknowledgment  of  three  capons, 
besides  six  deniers  —  that  is,  half  a  sou  —  in  money. 
To  each  was  assigned,  moreover,  sixty  arpents  of 
land  beyond  the  limits  of  the  village,  with  the  per- 
petual rent  of  half  a  sou  for  each  arpent.  He  also 
set  apart  a  common,  two  hundred  arpents  in  extent, 
for  the  use  of  the  settlers,  on  condition  of  the  pay- 
ment by  each  of  five  sous  a  year.  He  reserved  four 
hundred  and  twenty  arpents  for  his  own  personal 
domain,  and  on  this  he  began  to  clear  the  ground 
and  erect  buildings.  Similar  to  this  were  the  be- 
ginnings of  all  the  Canadian  seigniories  formed  at 
this  troubled  period.1 

That  La  Salle  came  to  Canada  with  objects  dis- 

few  years  later,  and  still  more  minute,  of  which  a  fac-simile  will  be  found 
in  the  Library  of  the  Canadian  Parliament. 

1  The  above  particulars  have  been  unearthed  by  the  indefatigable 
Abbe  Faillon.  Some  of  La  Salle's  grants  are  still  preserved  in  the  ancient 
records  of  Montreal. 


8  CAVELIER  DP:  LA  SALLE.  [1668. 

tinctly  in  view,  is  probable  from  the  fact  that  he  at 
once  began  to  study  the  Indian  languages,  and  with 
such  success  that  he  is  said,  within  two  or  three 
years,  to  have  mastered  the  Iroquois  and  seven  or 
eight  other  languages  and  dialects.1  From  the  shore 
of  his  seigniory,  he  could  gaze  westward  over  the 
broad  breast  of  the  Lake  of  St.  Louis,  bounded  by 
the  dim  forests  of  Chateauguay  and  Beauharnois ; 
but  his  thoughts  flew  far  beyond,  across  the  wild 
and  lonely  world  that  stretched  towards  the  sunset. 
Like  Champlain  and  all  the  early  explorers,  he 
dreamed  of  a  passage  to  the  South  Sea,  and  a  new 
road  for  commerce  to  the  riches  of  China  and  Ja- 
pan. Indians  often  came  to  his  secluded  settlement ; 
and,  on  one  occasion,  he  was  visited  by  a  band  of 
the  Seneca  Iroquois,  not  long  before  the  scourge 
of  the  colony,  but  now,  in  virtue  of  the  treaty,  wear- 
ing the  semblance  of  friendship.  The  visitors 
spent  the  winter  with  him,  and  told  him  of  a  river 
called  the  Ohio,  rising  in  their  country,  and  flowing 
into  the  sea,  but  at  such  a  distance  that  its  mouth 
could  only  be  reached  after  a  journey  of  eight  or 
nine  months.  Evidently,  the  Ohio  and  the  Missis- 
sippi are  here  merged  into  one.9  In  accordance 
with  geographical  views  then  prevalent,  he  conceived 
that  this  great  river  must  needs  flow  into  the  "  Ver- 


1  Papiers  de  Famille,  MSS.  He  is  said  to  have  made  several  jour- 
neys into  the  forests,  towards  the  North,  in  the  years  lt?>67  and  1668,  and  to 
have  satisfied  himself  that  little  could  be  hoped  from  explorations  in  that 
direction. 

2  According  to  Dollier  de  Casson,  who  had  good  opportunities  of 
knowing,  the  Iroquois  always  called  the  Mississippi  the  Ohio,  while  the 
Algonquins  gave  it  its  present  name. 


1669.]  SCHEMES  OF  DISCOVEEY.  9 

milion  Sea ;  "  that  is,  the  Gulf  of  California.  If  so, 
it  would  give  him  what  he  sought,  —  a  western 
passage  to  China ;  while,  in  any  case,  the  popu- 
lous Indian  tribes  said  to  inhabit  its  banks,  might 
be  made  a  source  of  great  commercial  profit. 

La  Salle's  imagination  took  fire.  His  resolution 
was  soon  formed ;  and  he  descended  the  St.  Law- 
rence to  Quebec,  to  gain  the  countenance  of  the 
Governor  to  his  intended  exploration.  Few  men 
were  more  skilled  than  he  in  the  art  of  clear 
and  plausible  statement.  Both  the  Governor, 
Courcelles,  and  the  Intendant,  Talon,  were  readily 
won  over  to  his  plan  ;  for  which,  however,  they 
seem  to  have  given  him  no  more  substantial  aid  than 
that  of  the  Governor's  letters  patent  authorizing  the 
enterprise.1  The  cost  was  to  be  his  own ;  and  he 
had  no  money,  having  spent  it  all  on  his  seigniory. 
He  therefore  proposed  that  the  Seminary,  which 
had  given  it  to  him,  should  buy  it  back  again,  with 
such  improvements  as  he  had  made.  Queylus,  the 
Superior,  being  favorably  disposed  towards  him,  con- 
sented, and  bought  of  him  the  greater  part ;  while 
La  Salle  sold  the  remainder,  including  the  clearings, 
to  one  Jean  Milot,  an  ironmonger,  for  twenty-eight 
hundred  livres.2  With  this  he  bought  four  canoes, 
with  the  necessary  supplies,  and  hired  fourteen 
men. 

Meanwhile,  the  Seminary  itself  was  preparing  a 
similar  enterprise.     The   Jesuits   at  this  time  not 

1  Talon,  in  his  letter  to  the  king,  of  10  Oct.  1670,  expresses  himself 
as  if  the  enterprise  had  originated  with  him. 

2  Faillon,  Colonic  FranQaise  en  Canada,  iii.  288. 


10  CAVELIER  DE  LA  SALLE.  [1669. 

only  held  an  ascendency  over  the  other  ecclesiastics 
in  Canada,  but  exercised  an  inordinate  influence  on 
the  civil  government.  The  Seminary  priests  of 
Montreal  were  jealous  of  these  powerful  rivals, 
and  eager  to  emulate  their  zeal  in  the  saving  of 
souls,  and  the  conquering  of  new  domains  for  the 
Faith.  Under  this  impulse,  they  had,  three  years 
before,  established  a  mission  at  Quinte,  on  the  north 
shore  of  Lake  Ontario,  in  charge  of  two  of  their 
number,  one  of  whom  was  the  Abbe  Fenelon,  elder 
brother  of  the  celebrated  Archbishop  of  Cambray. 
Another  of  them,  Dollier  de  Casson,  had  spent  the 
winter  in  a  hunting-camp  of  the  Nipissings,  where 
an  Indian  prisoner,  captured  in  the  North-west,  told 
him  of  populous  tribes  of  that  quarter,  living  in 
heathenish  darkness.  On  this,  the  Seminary  priests 
resolved  to  essay  their  conversion ;  and  an  expedi- 
tion, to  be  directed  by  Dollier.  was  fitted  out  to 
this  end. 

He  was  not  ill  suited  to  the  purpose.  He  had 
been  a  soldier  in  his  youth,  and  had  fought  valiantly 
as  an  officer  of  cavalry  under  Turenne.  He  was  a 
man  of  great  courage ;  of  a  tall,  commanding  person ; 
and  uncommon  bodily  strength,  of  which  he  had 
given  striking  proofs  in  the  campaign  of  Courcelles 
against  the  Iroquois,  three  years  before.1  On  going 
to  Quebec,  to  procure  the  necessary  outfit,  he  was 
urged  by  Courcelles  to  modify  his  plans  so  far  as  to 


1  He  was  the  author  of  the  very  curious  and  valuable  Hisloire  de  Mon- 
treal, preserved  in  the  Biblioth&que  Mazarine,  of  which  a  copy  is  in  my 
possession.  The  Historical  Society  of  Montreal  has  recently  resolved  to 
print  it. 


1669.]  DEPARTURE.  1 1 

act  in  concert  with  La  Salle  in  exploring  the  mys- 
tery of  the  great  unknown  river  of  the  West.  Dol- 
lier  and  his  brother  priests  consented.  One  of  them, 
Galinee,  was  joined  with  him  as  a  colleague,  be- 
cause he  was  skilled  in  surveying,  and  could  make 
a  map  of  their  route.  Three  canoes  were  procured, 
and  seven  hired  men  completed  the  party.  It  was 
determined  that  La  Salle's  expedition,  and  that  of 
the  Seminary,  should  be  combined  in  one  ;  an  ar- 
rangement ill  suited  to  the  character  of  the  young- 
explorer,  who  was  unfit  for  any  enterprise  of  which 
he  was  not  the  undisputed  chief. 

Midsummer  was  near,  and  there  was  no  time  to 
lose.  Yet  the  moment  was  most  unpropitious,  for 
a  Seneca  chief  had  lately  been  murdered  by  three 
scoundrel  soldiers  of  the  fort  of  Montreal ;  and, 
while  they  were  undergoing  their  trial,  it  became 
known  that  three  other  Frenchmen  had  treacher- 
ously put  to  death  several  Iroquois  of  the  Oneida 
tribe,  —  in  order  to  get  possession  of  their  furs. 
The  whole  colony  trembled  in  expectation  of  a 
new  outbreak  of  the  war.  Happily,  the  event 
proved  otherwise.  The  authors  of  the  last  mur- 
der escaped :  but  the  three  soldiers  were  shot  at 
Montreal,  in  presence  of  a  considerable  number 
of  the  Iroquois,  who  declared  themselves  satisfied 
with  the  atonement ;  and  on  this  same  day,  the 
sixth  of  July,  the  adventurers  began  their  voyage. 


CHAPTER  II. 

1669-1 671.. 

LA   SALLE   AXD   THE   SULPITIANS. 

The  French  in  Western  New  York. —  Louis  Joliet.  —  The  Sulpitians 
on  Lake  Erie. —  J^t  Detroit. —  Ax  Saut  Ste.  Marie. —  The  Mystery 
of  La  Salle.  —  He  discovers  the  Ohio.  —  He  descends  the  Illi- 
nois.—  Did  he  reach  the  Mississippi? 

La  Chine  was  the  starting-point,  and  the  com- 
bined parties,  in  all  twenty-four  men  with  seven 
canoes,  embarked  on  the  Lake  of  St.  Louis.  With 
them  were  two  other  canoes,  bearing  the  party  of 
Senecas  who  had  wintered  at  La  Salle's  settlement, 
and  who  were  now  to  act  as  guides.  They  fought 
their  way  upward  against  the  perilous  rapids  of  the 
St.  Lawrence,  then  scarcely  known  to  the  voyager. 
threaded  the  romantic  channels  of  the  Thousand 
Islands,  and  issued  on  Lake  Ontario.  Thirty  days 
of  toil  and  exposure  had  told  upon  them  so  severely 
that  not  a  man  of  the  party,  except  the  Indians, 
had  escaped  the  attacks  of  disease  in  some  form. 

Their  guides  led  them  directly  to  the  great  vil- 
lage of  the  Senecas,  near  the  banks  of  the  Gene- 
see, flattering  them  with  the  hope  that  they  would 
here  find  other  guides,  to  conduct  them  to  the  Ohio  ; 
and,  in  truth,  the  Senecas  had  among  them  a  pris- 


1669.]  THE   SENECA   TOWN.  13 

oner  of  one  of  the  western  tribes,  who  would  have 
answered  their  purpose.  The  chiefs  met  in  council : 
but  La  Salle  had  not  yet  mastered  the  language 
sufficiently  to  serve  as  spokesman ;  and  a  Dutch 
interpreter,  brought  by  the  priests,  could  not  ex- 
plain himself  in  French.  The  Jesuit  Fremin  was 
stationed  at  the  village,  and  his  servant  came  to 
their  aid :  but,  as  the  two  priests  thought,  wilfully 
misinterpreted  them ;  and  they  also  conceived  the 
suspicion,  perhaps  uncharitable,  that  the  Jesuits, 
jealous  of  their  enterprise,  had  tampered  with  the 
Senecas,  to  thwart  it.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Indians 
proved  impracticable,  evaded  their  request  for  a 
guide,  burned  before  their  eyes  the  unfortunate 
western  prisoner,  and  assured  them  that  if  they 
went  to  the  Ohio  the  people  of  those  parts  would 
put  them  to  death.  As  there  were  many  among 
the  Senecas  who  wished  to  kill  them  in  revenge 
for  the  chief  murdered  near  Montreal,  and  as  these 
and  others  were  at  times  in  a  frenzy  of  drunkenness 
with  brandy  brought  from  Albany,  the  position  of 
the  French  was  very  hazardous.  They  remained, 
however,  for  a  month  ;  still  clinging  to  the  hope  of 
obtaining  guides.  At  length,  an  Indian  from  a 
village  called  Ganastogue,  a  kind  of  Iroquois  colony 
at  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  offered  to  conduct 
them  thither,  assuring  them  that  they  would  find 
what  they  sought.  They  left  the  Seneca  town; 
coasted  the  south  shore  of  the  lake ;  passed  the 
mouth  of  the  Niagara,  where  they  heard  the  dis- 
tant roar  of  the  cataract ;  and,  five  days  after, 
reached    Ganastogue.      The     inhabitants     proved 


14  LA   SALLE  AND   THE   SULPITIANS.  [1669. 

friendly,  and  La  Salle  received  the  welcome  pres- 
ent of  a  Shawnee  prisoner,  who  told  them  that 
the  Ohio  could  be  reached  in  six  weeks,  and  that 
he  would  guide  them  to  it.  Delighted  at  this  good 
fortune,  they  were  about  to  set  out;  when  they 
heard;  to  their  astonishment,  of  the  arrival  of  two 
other  Frenchmen  at  a  neighboring  village.  One 
of  the  strangers  proved  to  be  a  man  destined  to 
hold  a  conspicuous  place  in  the  history  of  western 
discovery.  This  was  Louis  Joliet,  a  young  man  of 
about  the  age  of  La  Salle.  Like  him,  he  had 
studied  for  the  priesthood ;  but  the  world  and  the 
wilderness  had  conquered  his  early  inclinations,  and 
changed  him  to  an  active  and  adventurous  fur-tra- 
der. Talon  had  sent  him  to  discover  and  explore 
the  copper-mines  of  Lake  Superior.  He  had  failed 
in  the  attempt,  and  was  now  returning.  His  Indian 
guide,  afraid  of  passing  the  Niagara  portage  lest  he 
should  meet  enemies,  had  led  him  from  Lake  Erie, 
by  way  of  Grand  River,  towards  the  head  of  Lake 
Ontario  ;  and  thus  it  was  that  he  met  La  Salle  and 
the  Sulpitians. 

This  meeting  caused  a  change  of  plan.  Joliet 
showed  the  priests  a  map  which  he  had  made,  of 
such  parts  of  the  Upper  Lakes  as  he  had  visited, 
and  gave  them  a  copy  of  it;  telling  them,  at  the  same 
time,  of  the  Pottawattamies,  and  other  tribes  of  that 
region  in  grievous  need  of  spiritual  succor.  The 
result  was  a  determination  on  their  part  to  follow 
the  route  which  he  suggested,  notwithstanding  the 
remonstrances  of  La  Salle,  who  in  vain  reminded 
them  that  the  Jesuits  had  pre-occupied  the  field. 


1669.]  SEPARATION.  15 

and  would  regard  them  as  intruders.  They  resolved 
that  the  Pottawattamies  should  no  longer  sit  in 
darkness  :  while,  as  for  the  Mississippi,  it  could  be 
reached,  as  they  conceived,  with  less  risk  by  this 
northern  route  than  by  that  of  the  south. 

Since  reaching  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario,  La 
Salle  had  been  attacked  by  a  violent  fever,  from 
which  he  was  not  yet  recovered.  He  now  told  his 
two  colleagues  that  he  was  in  no  condition  to  go 
forward,  and  should  be  forced  to  part  with  them. 
The  staple  of  La  Salle's  character,  as  his  life  will 
attest,  was  an  invincible  determination  of  purpose, 
which  set  at  naught  all  risks  and  all  sufferings. 
He  had  cast  himself  with  all  his  resources  into  this 
enterprise,  and,  while  his  faculties  remained,  he  was 
not  a  man  to  recoil  from  it.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  masculine  fibre  of  which  he  was  made  did  not 
always  withhold  him  from  the  practice  of  the  arts 
of  address,  and  the  use  of  what  Dollier  de  Casson 
styles  belles  paroles.  He  respected  the  priesthood, — 
with  the  exception,  it  seems,  of  the  Jesuits,  —  and 
he  was  under  obligations  to  the  Sulpitians  of  Mon- 
treal. Hence  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  he  used 
his  illness  as  a  pretext  for  escaping  from  their  com- 
pany without  ungraciousness,  and  following  his 
own  path  in  his  own  way. 

On  the  last  day  of  September,  the  priests  made 
an  altar,  supported  by  the  paddles  of  the  canoes 
laid  on  forked  sticks.  Dollier  said  mass  ;  La  Salle 
and  his  followers  received  the  sacrament,  as  did 
also  those  of  his  late .  colleagues ;  and  thus  they 
parted,  —  the  Sulpitians  and  their  party  descending 


16.  LA   SAi^LE   AND    THE   SULPITIANS.  [1670. 

the  Grand  River  towards  Lake  Erie,  while  La 
Salle,  as  they  supposed,  began  his  return  to  Mon- 
treal. What  course  he  actually  took,  we  shall  soon 
inquire;  and  meanwhile,  for  a  few  moments,  we 
will  follow  the  priests.  When  they  reached  Lake 
Erie,  they  saw  it  tossing  like  an  angry  ocean  under 
a  wild  autumnal  sky.  They  had  no  mind  to  tempt 
the  dangerous  and  unknown  navigation,  and  en- 
camped for  the  winter  in  the  forest  near  the  penin- 
sula called  the  Long  Point.  Here  they  gathered  a 
good  store  of  chestnuts,  hickory-nuts,  plums,  and 
grapes  ;  and  built  themselves  a  log-cabin,  with  a 
recess  at  the  end  for  an  altar.  They  passed  the 
winter  unmolested,  shooting  game  in  abundance, 
and  saying  mass  three  times  a  week.  Early  in 
spring,  they  planted  a  large  cross,  attached  to  it  the 
arms  of  France,  and  took  formal  possession  of  the 
country  in  the  name  of  Louis  XIV.  This  done, 
they  resumed  their  voyage,  and,  after  many  troubles , 
landed  one  evening  in  a  state  of  exhaustion  on  or 
near  Point  Pelee,  towards  the  western  extremity  of 
Lake  Erie.  A  storm  rose  as  they  lay  asleep,  and 
swept  off  a  great  part  of  their  baggage,  which,  in 
their  fatigue,  they  had  left  at  the  edge  of  the  water. 
Their  altar-service  was  lost  with  the  rest, —  a  misfor- 
tune which  they  ascribed  to  the  jealousy  and  malice 
of  the  Devil.  Debarred  henceforth  from  saying 
mass,  they  resolved  to  return  to  Montreal  and  leave 
the  Pottawattamies  uninstructed.  They  presently 
entered  the  strait  by  which  Lake  Huron  joins  Lake 
Erie ;  and,  landing  near  where  Detroit  now  stands, 
found  a  large   stone,  somewhat  suggestive  of  the 


1670.]  SULPIT1ANS  AT  DETROIT.  17 

human  figure,  which  the  Indians  had  bedaubed 
with  paint,  and  which  they  worshipped  as  a  manito. 
In  view  of  their  late  misfortune,  this  device  of  the 
arch-enemy  excited  their  utmost  resentment.  "  After 
the  loss  of  our  altar-service,"  writes  Galinee,  "  and 
the  hunger  we  had  suffered,  there  was  not  a  man 
of  us  who  was  not  filled  with  hatred  against  this 
false  deity.  I  devoted  one  of  my  axes  to  breaking 
him  in  pieces  ;  and  then,  having  fastened  our  canoes 
side  by  side,  we  carried  the  largest  piece  to  the 
middle  of  the  river,  and  threw  it,  with  all  the  rest, 
into  the  water,  that  he  might  never  be  heard  of 
again." 

This  is  the  first  recorded  passage  of  white  men 
through  the  Strait  of  Detroit ;  though  Joliet  had, 
no  doubt,  passed  this  way  on  his  return  from  the 
Upper  Lakes.1  The  two  missionaries  took  this 
course,  with  the  intention  of  proceeding  to  the  Saut 
Sainte  Marie,  and  there  joining  the  Ottawas,  and 
other  tribes  of  that  region,  in  their  yearly  descent 
to  Montreal.  They  issued  upon  Lake  Huron  ;  fol- 
lowed its  eastern  shores  till  they  reached  the  Geor- 
gian Bay,  near  the  head  of  which  the  Jesuits  had 
established  their  great  mission  of  the  Hurons,  de- 
stroyed, twenty  years  before,  by  the  Iroquois  ; 2  and, 
ignoring  or  slighting  the  labors  of  the  rival  mission- 
aries, held  their  way  northward  along  the  rocky 
archipelago  that  edged  those  lonely  coasts.     They 

1  The  Jesuits  and  fur-traders,  on  their  way  to  the  Upper  Lakes,  had 
followed  the  route  of  the  Ottawa,  or,  more  recently,  that  of  Toronto  and 
the  Georgian  Bay.  Iroquois  hostility  had  long  closed  the  Niagara  portage 
and  Lake  Erie  against  them. 

2  "  Jesuits  in  North  America." 

2* 


18  LA  SALLE   AND   THE  SULPITIANS.  [1670. 

passed  the  Manatoulins,  and,  ascending  the  strait 
bv  which  Lake  Superior  discharges  its  waters,  ar- 
rived on  the  twenty-fifth  of  May  at  Ste.  Marie  du 
Sant.  Here  they  found  the  two  Jesuits,  Dablon 
and  Marquette,  in  a  square  fort  of  cedar  pickets, 
built  by  their  men  within  the  past  year,  and  enclos- 
ing a  chapel  and  a  house.  Near  by,  they  had 
cleared  a  large  tract  of  land,  and  sown  it  with 
wheat,  Indian  corn,  peas,  and  other  crops.  The 
new-comers  were  graciously  received,  and  invited 
to  vespers  in  the  chapel ;  but  they  very  soon  found 
La  Salle's  prediction  made  good,  and  saw  that  the 
Jesuit  fathers  wanted  no  help  from  St.  Sulpice. 
Galinee,  on  his  part,  takes  occasion  to  remark  that, 
though  the  Jesuits  had  baptized  a  few  Indians  at  the 
Saut,  not  one  of  them  was  a  good  enough  Christian 
to  receive  the  Eucharist ;  and  he  intimates,  that  the 
case,  by  their  own  showing,  was  still  worse  at  their 
mission  of  St.  Esprit.  The  two  Sulpitians  did  not 
care  to  prolong  their  stay ;  and,  three  days  after 
their  arrival,  they  left  the  Saut :  not,  as  they  ex- 
pected, with  the  Indians,  but  with  a  French  guide, 
furnished  by  the  Jesuits.  Ascending  French  River 
to  Lake  Nipissing,  they  crossed  to  the  waters  of  the 
Ottawa,  and  descended  to  Montreal,  which  they 
reached  on  the  eighteenth  of  June.  They  had  made 
no  discoveries  and  no  converts  ;  but  Galinee,  after 
his  arrival,  made  the  earliest  map  of  the  Upper 
Lakes  known  to  exist.1 


1  Galinee  appears  to  have  made  use  of  the  map  given  him  by  Joliet. 
He  says,  in  the  narrative  of  his  journey,  that  lie  has  laid  down  on  his  own 
map  nothing  but  what  he  had  himself  seen  ;  but  this  is  disproved  by  the 


1669-70.]  LA  SALLE'S  DISCOVERIES.  19 

•  We  return  now  to  La  Salle,  only  to  find  ourselves 
involved  in  mist  and  obscurity.  What  did  he  do 
after  he  left  the  two  priests  \  Unfortunately,  a  defi- 
nite answer  is  not  possible ;  and  the  next  two  years 
of  his  life  remain  in  some  measure  an  enigma. 
That  he  was  busied  in  active  exploration,  and  that 
he  made  important  discoveries,  is  certain  ;  but  the 
extent  and  character  of  these  discoveries  remain 
wrapped  in  doubt.  He  is  known  to  have  kept  jour- 
nals and  made  maps ;  and  these  were  in  existence, 
and  in  possession  of  his  niece,  Madeleine  Cavelier, 
then  in  advanced  age,  as  late  as  the  year  1756  ; *  be- 
yond which  time  the  most  diligent  inquiry  has  failed 
to  trace  them.  The  Abbe  Faillon  affirms,  that  some 
of  La  Salle's  men,  refusing  to  follow  him,  returned 
to  La  Chine,  and  that  the  place  then  received  its 
name,  in  derision  of  the  young  adventurer's  dream  of 
a  westward  passage  to  China.2     As  for  himself,  the 

map  itself.  Thus,  he  represents  with  minuteness  the.  northern  coast  as 
far  west  as  the  islands  at  the  mouth  of  Green  Bay  ;  hut  that  he  never  went 
so  far  is  evident  not  only  from  his  own  journal,  but  from  the  fact  that  he 
was  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  Straits  of  Michillimackinac  and  the 
peninsula  of  Michigan  ;  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan  being  by  him  merged 
into  one,  under  the  name  of  "Michigane,  ou  Mer  Douce  des  Hurons."  The 
map,  of  which  a  fac-simile  is  before  me,  measures  four  and  a  half  feet  by 
three  and  a  half.  It  is  covered  with  descriptive  remarks,  which,  oddly 
enough,  are  all  inverted,  so  that  it  must  be  turned  with  the  north  side 
down  in  order  to  read  them.  Faillon  has  engraved  it,  but  on  a  small 
scale,  with  the  omission  of  most  of  the  inscriptions,  and  other  changes. 
The  well-known  Jesuit  map  of  Lake  Superior  appeared  the  year  after. 

Besides  making  the  map,  Galinee  wrote  a  very  long  and  minute 
journal  of  the  expedition,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Bibliotheque  Impe- 
riale.  Much  of  the  substance  of  it  is  given  by  Faillon,  Colonie  Francaise, 
ill.  chap,  vii.,  and  Margry,  Journal  General  de  I' Instruction  Pnblique,  xxxi. 
No.  67.  In  the  letters  of  Talon  to  Colbert  are  various  allusions  to  the 
journey  of  Dollier  and  Galine'e. 

1  See  Margry,  in  Journal  Ge'ne'ral  de  V Instruction  Publique,  xxxi.  659. 

2  Dollier  de  Casson  alludes  to  this  as  "  cette  transmigration  celebre  qui 
se  fit  de  la  Chine  dans  ces  quartiers." 


"20  LA   SALLE   AND   THE   SULITTIANS.  [1669-70. 

only  distinct  record  of  his  movements  is  that  con- 
tained in  an  unpublished  paper,  entitled,  "  Histoire 
de  Monsieur  de  la  Salle."  It  is  an  account  of  his  ex- 
plorations, and  of  the  state  of  parties  in  Canada  pre- 
vious to  the  year  1678;  taken  from  the  lips  of  La 
Salle  himself,  by  a  person  whose  name  does  not  ap- 
pear, but  who  declares  that  he  had  ten  or  twelve 
conversations  with  him  at  Paris,  whither  he  had 
come  with  a  petition  to  the  Court.  The  writer  him- 
self had  never  been  in  America,  and  was  ignorant 
of  its  geography  ;  hence  blunders  on  his  part  might 
reasonably  be  expected.  His  statements,  however, 
are  in  some  measure  intelligible  ;  and  the  following 
is  the  substance  of  them.  After  leaving  the  priests, 
La  Salle  went  to  Onondaga,  where  we  are  left  to 
infer  that  he  succeeded  better  in  getting  a  guide 
than  he  had  before  done  among  the  Senecas.  Thence 
he  made  his  way  to  a  point  six  or  seven  leagues  dis- 
tant from  Lake  Erie,  where  he  reached  a  branch  of 
the  Ohio ;  and,  descending  it,  followed  the  river  as 
far  as  the  rapids  at  Louisville,  or,  as  has  been  main- 
tained, beyond  its  confluence  with  the  Mississippi. 
His  men  now  refused  to  go  farther,  and  abandoned 
him,  escaping  to  the  English  and  the  Dutch ; 
whereupon  he  retraced  his  steps  alone.1    This  must 

1  As  no  part  of  the  memoir  referred  to  has  been  published,  I  extract 
the  passage  relating  to  this  journey.  After  recounting  La  Salle's  visit 
with  the  Sulpitians  to  the  Seneca  village,  and  stating  that  the  intrigues  of 
the  Jesuit  missionary  prevented  them  from  obtaining  a  guide,  it  speaks 
of  the  separation  of  the  travellers  and  the  journey  of  Galine'e  and  his 
party  to  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie,  where  "  les  Je'suites  les  conge'dierent."  It 
then  proceeds  as  follows  :  "  Cependant  Mr.  de  la  Salle  continua  son  che- 
min  par  une  rivi&re  qui  va  de  Test  a  l'ouest ;  et  passe  a  Onontaque' 
(Onondaga),  puis  a  six  ou  sept  lieues  au-dessous  du  Lac  Erie;  et  estant 


1669-71.]  THE  RIVER  ILLINOIS.  21 

have  been  in  the  winter  of  1669-70,  or  in  the  fol- 
lowing spring ;  unless  there  is  an  error  of  date  in  the 
statement  of  Nicolas  Perrot,  the  famous  voyageur, 
who  says  that  he  met  him  in  the  summer  of  1670, 
hunting  on  the  Ottawa  with  a  party  of  Iroquois.1 

But  how  was  La  Salle  employed  in  the  following- 
year'?  The  same  memoir  has  its  solution  to  the 
problem.  By  this  it  appears  that  the  indefatigable 
explorer  embarked  on  Lake  Erie,  ascended  the  De- 
troit to  Lake  Huron,  coasted  the  unknown  shores 
of  Michigan,  passed  the  Straits  of  Michillimackinac, 
and  leaving  Green  Bay  behind  him,  entered  what  is 
described  as  an  incomparably  larger  bay,  but  which 
was  evidently  the  southern  portion  of  Lake  Michi- 
gan. Thence  he  crossed  to  a  river  flowing  west- 
ward, —  evidently  the  Illinois,  —  and  followed  it  until 
it  was  joined  by  another  river  flowing  from  the  north- 
west to  the  southeast.  By  this,  the  Mississippi  only 
can  be  meant ;  and  he  is  reported  to  have  said  that 
he  descended  it  to  the  thirty-sixth  degree  of  latitude  ; 
where  he  stopped,  assured  that  it  discharged  itself 
not  into  the  Gulf  of  California,  but  into  the  Gulf  of 

parvenu  jusqu'au  280me  ou  83me  degre  de  longitude,  et  jusqu'au  41m6 
degre  de  latitude,  trouva  un  sault  qui  tombe  vers  l'ouest  dans  un  pays  bas, 
marescageux,  tout  couvert  de  vielles  souches,  dont  il  y  en  a  quelques- 
unes  qui  sont  encore  sur  pied.  II  fut  done  contraint  de  prendre  terre,  et 
suivant  une  hauteur  qui  le  pouvoit  mener  loin,  il  trouva  quelques  sauvages 
qui  luy  dirent  que  fort  loin  de  la  le  mesme  fleuve  qui  se  perdoit  dans  cette 
terre  basse  et  vaste  se  reunnissoit  en  un  lit.  II  continua  done  son  che- 
fain,  mais  eomme  la  fatigue  estoit  grande,  23  ou  24  hommes  qu'il  avoit 
menez  jusques  la  le  quitterent  tous  en  une  nuit,  regagnerent  le  fleuve,  et 
se  sauverent,  les  uns  a  la  Nouvelle  Hollande  et  les  autres  a  la  Nouvelle 
Angleterre.  II  se  vit  done  seul  a  400  lieues  de  chez  luy,  oil  il  ne  laisse 
pas  de  revenir,  remontant  la  riviere  et  vivant  de  chasse,  d'herbes,  et  de  ce 
que  luy  donnerent  les  sauvages  qu'il  rencontra  en  6on  cheniin." 
1  Perrot,  Mtmoires,  119,  120. 


22  LA  SALLE  AND   THE   SULPITIANS.  [1671. 

Mexico ;  and  resolved  to  follow  it  thither  at  a  future 
day,  when  better  provided  with  men  and  supplies.1 
The  first  of  these  statements,  —  that  relating  to 
the  Ohio,  —  confused,  vague,  and  in  great  part  in- 
correct as  it  certainly  is,  is  nevertheless  well  sus- 
tained as  regards  one  essential  point.  La  Salle 
himself,  in  a  memorial  addressed  to  Count  Frontenac 
in  1677,  affirms  that  he  discovered  the  Ohio,  and 
descended  it  as  far  as  to  a  fall  which  obstructed  it.2 
Again,  his  rival,  Louis  Joliet,  whose  testimony  on 
this  point  cannot  be  suspected,  made  two  maps  of 
the  region  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Great  Lakes. 
The  Ohio  is  laid  down  on  both  of  them,  with  an  in- 

1  The  memoir,  —  after  stating,  as  above,  that  he  entered  Lake  Huron, 
doubled  the  peninsula  of  Michigan,  and  passed  La  Baye  des  Puants 
(Green  Bay), —  says,  "  II  reconnut  une  baye  incomparablement  plus  large ; 
au  fond  de  laquelle  vers  l'ouest  il  trouva  un  tres-beau  havre  et  au  fond  de 
ce  havre  un  fleuve  qui  va  de  Test  a  l'ouest.  II  suivit  ce  fleuve,  et  estant 
parvenu  jusqu'environ  le  280me  degre'  de  longitude  et  le  39mc  de  latitude, 
il  trouva  un  autre  fleuve  qui  se  joignant  au  premier  coulait  du  nordouest 
au  sudest,  et  il  suivit  ce  fleuve  jusqu'au  36me  degre'  de  latitude." 

The  "tres-beau  havre"  may  have  been  the  entrance  of  the  Eiver 
Chicago,  whence,  by  an  easy  portage,  he  might  have  reached  the  Des 
Plaines  branch  of  the  Illinois.  We  shall  see  that  he  took  this  course  in 
his  famous  exploration  of  1682. 

The  Internum  t  Talon  announces  in  his  despatches  of  this  year  that  he 
had  sent  La  Salle  southward  and  westward  to  explore. 

2  The  following  are  his  words  (he  speaks  of  himself  in  the  third  per- 
son) :  "  L'anne'e  1667,  et  les  suivantes,  il  fit  divers  voyages  avec  beaucoup 
de  depenses,  dans  lesquels  il  de'couvrit  le  premier  beaucoup  de  pays 
au  sud  des  grands  lacs,  et  entre  autre*  la  grand*  riviere  d'Ohio;  il  la 
suivit  jusqu'a  un  endroit  ou  elle  tombe  de  fort  haut  dans  de  Tastes  marais, 
a  la  hauteur  de  37  degre's,  apres  avoir  e'te'  grossie  par  une  autre  riviere  fort 
large  qui  vient  du  nord  ;  et  toutes  ces  eaux  se  dechargent  selon  toutes  les 
apparences  dans  le  Golfe  du  Mexique." 

This  "  autre  riviere,"  which,  it  seems,  was  above  the  fall,  may  have 
been  the  Miami  or  the  Scioto.  There  is  but  one  fall  on  the  river,  that 
of  Louisville,  which  is  not  so  high  as  to  deserve  to  be  described  as  "fort 
haut,"  being  only  a  strong  rapid.  The  latitude,  as  will  be  seen,  is  differ- 
ent in  the  two  accounts,  and  incorrect  in  both. 


1671.]  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  23 

scription  to  the  effect  that  it  had  been  explored  by 
La  Salle.1  That  he  discovered  the  Ohio  may  then 
be  regarded  as  established.  That  he  descended  it 
to  the  Mississippi,  he  himself  does  not  pretend ;  nor 
is  there  reason  to  believe  that  he  did  so. 

With  regard  to  his  alleged  voyage  down  the  Illi- 
nois, the  case  is  different.  Here,  he  is  reported  to 
have  made  a  statement  which  admits  but  one  in- 
terpretation, —  that  of  the  discovery  by  him  of  the 
Mississippi  prior  to  its  discovery  by  Joliet  and 
Marquette.  This  statement  is  attributed  to  a  man 
not  prone  to  vaunt  his  own  exploits,  who  never  pro- 
claimed them  in  print,  and  whose  testimony,  even 
in  his  own  case,  must  therefore  have  weight.  But 
it  comes  to  us  through  the  medium  of  a  person, 
strongly  biased  in  favor  of  La  Salle  and  against 
Marquette  and  the  Jesuits. 

Seven  years  had  passed  since  the  alleged  dis- 
covery, and  La  Salle  had  not  before  laid  claim  to  it ; 
although  it  was  matter  of  notoriety  that  during  five 
years  it  had  been  claimed  by  Joliet,  and  that  his 
claim  was  generally  admitted.     The  correspondence 

1  One  of  these  maps  is  entitled  Carte  de  la  de'couverte  du  Sieur  Joliet, 
1674.  Over  the  lines  representing  the  Ohio  are  the  words,  "Route  du 
sieur  de  la  Salle- pour  aller  dans  le  Mexique."  The  other  map  of  Joliet 
hears,  also  written  over  the  Ohio,  the  words,  "  Riviere  par  oil  descendit 
le  sieur  de  la  Salle  au  sortir  du  lac  Erie  pour  aller  dans  le  Mexique."  I 
have  also  another  manuscript  map,  made  before  the  voyage  of  Joliet  and 
Marquette,  and  apparently  in  the  year  1673,  on  which  the  Ohio  is  repre- 
sented as  far  as  to  a  point  a  little  below  Louisville,  and  over  it  is  written, 
"  Riviere  Ohio,  ainsy  appellee  par  Ies  Iroquois  a  cause  de  sa  beaute,  par  oh 
le  sieur  de  la  Salle  est  descendu."  The  Mississippi  is  not  represented  on 
this  map;  but — and  this  is  very  significant,  as  indicating  the  extent  of 
La  Salle's  exploration  of  the  following  year  —  a  small  part  of  the  upper 
Illinois  is  laid  down. 


24  LA  SALLE  AND   THE    SULPITIANS.  [1671. 

of  the  Governor  and  the  Intendant  is  silent  as  to 
La  Salle's  having  penetrated  to  the  Mississippi ; 
though  the  attempt  was  made  under  the  auspices  of 
the  latter,  as  his  own  letters  declare  ;  while  both  had 
the  discovery  of  the  great  river  earnestly  at  heart. 
The  governor,  Frontenac,  La  Salle's  ardent  sup- 
porter and  ally,  believed  in  1672,.  as  his  letters 
show,  that  the  Mississippi  flowed  into  the  Gulf  of 
California,  and,  two  years  later,  he  announces  to 
the  minister  Colbert  its  discovery  by  Joliet.1  After 
La  Salle's  death,  his  brother,  his  nephew,  and  his 
niece  addressed  a  memorial  to  the  King,  petitioning 
for  certain  grants  in  consideration  of  the  discoveries 
of  their  relative,  which  they  specify  at  some  length  ; 
but  they  do  not  pretend  that  he  reached  the  Mis- 
sissippi before  his  expeditions  of  16 79  to  1682.2 
This  silence  is  the  more  significant,  as  it  is  this  very 
niece  who  had  possession  of  the  papers  in  which 
La  Salle  recounts  the  journeys  of  which  the  issues 
are  in  question.3     Had  they  led  him  to  the  Missis- 

1  Lettre  de  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  14  Nov.  1674.  He  here  speaks  of 
"la  grande  riviere  qu'il  (Joliet)  a  trouvee,  qui  va  du  nord  au  sud,  et  qui 
est  aussi  large  que  celle  du  Saint-Laurent  vis-a-vis  de  Quebec."  Four 
years  later,  Frontenac  speaks  slightingly  of  Joliet,  but  neither  denies  his 
discovery  cf  the  Mississippi  nor  claims  it  for  La  Salle,  in  whose  interest 
he  writes. 

2  Papiers  de  Famille,  MSS. ;  MeTnoire  pre'sente'au  Roi.  The  following  is 
an  extract :  "  II  parvient  .  .  .  jusqu'a  la  riviere  des  Illinois.  II  y  con- 
struisit  un  fort  situe  a  350  lieues  au-dela  du  fort  de  Frontenac,  et  suivant 
ensuite  le  cours  de  cette  riviere,  il  trouve  qu'elle  se  jettoit  dans  un  grand 
fleuve  appelle  par  ceux  du  pays  Missisippi,  c'est  a  dire  grande  eau,  environ 
cent  lieues  audessous  du  fort  qu'il  venoit  de  construire."  This  fort  was 
Fort  Crevecoeur,  built  in  1680,  near  the  site  of  Peoria.  The  memoir  goes 
on  to  relate  the  descent  of  La  Salle  to  the  Gulf,  which  concluded  this  ex- 
pedition of  1679-82. 

3  The  following  is  an  extract,  given  by  Margry,  from  a  letter  of  the 
aged  Madeleine  Cavelier,  dated  21  Fevrier,  1756,  and  addressed  to  her 


1671.]  LA  SALLE'S  DISCOVERIES.  25 

sippi,  it  is  reasonably  certain  that  she  would  have 
made  it  known  in  her  memorial.  La  Salle  dis- 
covered the  Ohio,  and  in  all  probability  the  Illinois 
also  ;  but  that  he  discovered  the  Mississippi  has 
not  been  proved,  nor,  in  the  light  of  the  evidence 
we  have,  is  it  likely. 

nephew  M.  Le  Baillif,  who  had  applied  for  the  papers  in  behalf  of  the 
minister,  Silhouette  :  "  J'ay  cherche  une  occasion  sure  pour  vous  anvoye 
les  papiers  de  M.  de  la  Salle.  II  y  a  des  cartes  que  j'ay  jointe  a  ces  pa- 
piers,  qui  doivent  prouver  que,  en  1675,  M.  de  Lasalle  avet  deja  fet  deux 
voyages  en  ces  decouverte,  puisqu'il  y  avet  une  carte,  que  je  vous  en- 
voye,  par  laquelle  il  est  fait  mention  de  l'androit  auquel  M.  de  Lasalle 
aborda  pres  le  fleuve  de  Mississipi."  This,  though  brought  forward  to 
support  the  claim  of  discovery  prior  to  Joliet,  seems  to  indicate  that  La 
Salle  had  not  reached  the  Mississippi,  but  only  approached  it,  previous 
to  1675. 

Margry,  in  a  series  of  papers  in  the  Journal  General  de  V Instruction  Pub- 
lique  for  1862,  first  took  the  position  that  La  Salle  reached  the  Mississippi 
in  1670  and  1671,  and  has  brought  forward  in  defence  of  it  all  the  docu- 
ments which  his  unwearied  research  enabled  him  to  discover.  Father 
Tailhan,  S.J.,  has  replied  at  length,  in  the  copious  notes  to  his  edition  of 
Nicolas  Perrot,  but  without  having  seen  the  principal  document  cited  by 
Margry,  and  of  which  extracts  have  been  given  in  the  notes  to  this 
chapter. 


CHAPTER   III. 

1670-1672. 
THE  JESUITS   ON  THE  LAKES. 

The  Old  Missions  and  the  New.  —  A  Change  of  Spirit.  —  Lake 
Superior  and  the  Copper-Mines.  —  Ste.  Marie.  —  La  Pointe. — 
mlchillimackinac. —  jesuits  on  lake  michigan.  —  allouez  and 
Dablon.  —  The  Jesuit  Fur-Trade. 

What  were  the  Jesuits  doing  %  Since  the  ruin 
of  their  great  mission  of  the  Hurons,  a  perceptible 
change  had  taken  place  in  them.  They  had  put 
forth  exertions  almost  superhuman,  set  at  naught 
famine,  disease,  and  death,  lived  with  the  self-ab- 
negation of  saints  and  died  with  the  devotion  of 
martyrs  ;  and  the  result  of  all  had  been  a  disastrous 
failure.  From  no  short-coming  on  their  part,  but 
from  the  force  of  events  beyond  the  sphere  of  their 
influence,  a  very  demon  of  havoc  had  crushed  their 
incipient  churches,  slaughtered  their  converts,  up- 
rooted the  populous  communities  on  which  their 
hopes  had  rested,  and  scattered  them  in  bands  of 
wretched  fugitives  far  and  wide  through  the  wilder- 
ness.1     They   had  devoted  themselves  in  the  ful- 

1  See  "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America." 


1670-72.]      REPORTS  OF  THE  JESUITS.  27 

ness  of  faith  to  the  building  up  of  a  Christian  and 
Jesuit  empire  on  the  conversion  of  the  great  station- 
ary tribes  of  the  lakes  ;  and  of  these  none  remained 
but  the  Iroquois,  —  the  destroyers  of  the  rest,  among 
whom,  indeed,  was  a  field  which  might  stimulate 
their  zeal  by  an  abundant  promise  of  sufferings  and 
martyrdoms  ;  but  which,  from  its  geographical  posi- 
tion, was  too  much  exposed  to  Dutch  and  English 
influence  to  promise  great  and  decisive  results. 
Their  best  hopes  were  now  in  the  North  and  the 
West;  and  thither,  in  great  part,  they  had  turned 
their  energies. 

We  find  them  on  Lake  Huron,  Lake  Superior, 
and  Lake  Michigan,  laboring  vigorously  as  of  old, 
but  in  a  spirit  not  quite  the  same.  Now,  as  before, 
two  objects  inspired  their  zeal,  the  "  greater  glory 
of  God,"  and  the  influence  and  credit  of  the  order  i 
of  Jesus.  If  the  one  motive  had  somewhat  lost  in 
power,  the  other  had  gained.  The  epoch  of  the 
saints  and  martyrs  was  passing  away ;  and  hence- 
forth we  find  the  Canadian  Jesuit  less  and  less  an 
apostle,  more  and  more  an  explorer,  a  man  of 
science,  and  a  politician.  The  yearly  reports  of 
the  missions  are  still,  for  the  edification  of  the  pious 
reader,  stuffed  with  intolerably  tedious  stories  of 
baptisms,  conversions,  and  the  exemplary  deport- 
ment of  neophytes  ;  for  these  have  become  a  part  of 
the  formula  ;  but  they  are  relieved  abundantly  by 
more  mundane  topics.  One  finds  observations  on  the 
winds,  currents,  and  tides  of  the  Great  Lakes  ;  specu- 
lations on  a  subterranean  outlet  of  Lake  Superior  ; 
accounts  of  its  copper-mines,  and  how  we,  the  Jes- 


28'  THE  JESUITS   ON  THE  LAKES.  [1670-72. 

uit  fathers,  are  laboring  to  explore  them  for  the 
profit  of  the  colony ;  surmises  touching  the  North 
Sea,  the  South  Sea,  the  Sea  of  China,  which  we 
hope  ere  long  to  discover ;  and  reports  of  that  great 
mysterious  river  of  which  the  Indians  tell  us,  — 
flowing  southward,  perhaps  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
perhaps  to  the  Vermilion  Sea,  —  and  the  secrets 
whereof,  with  the  help  of  the  Virgin,  we  will  soon 
reveal  to  the  world. 
J  The  Jesuit  was  as  often  a  fanatic  for  his  order  as 
for  his  faith  ;  and  oftener  yet,  the  two  fanaticisms 
mingled  in  him  inextricably.  Ardently  as  he 
burned  for  the  saving  of  souls,  he  would  have  none 
saved  on  the  Upper  Lakes  except  by  his  brethren 
and  himself.  He  claimed  a  monopoly  of  conver- 
sion, with  its  attendant  monopoly  of  toil,  hardship, 
and  martyrdom.  Often  disinterested  for  himself, 
he  was  inordinately  ambitious  for  the  great  corpo- 
rate power  in  which  he  had  merged  his  own  per- 
sonality ;  and  here  lies  one  cause,  among  many,  of 
the  seeming  contradictions  which  abound  in  the  an- 
nals of  the  order. 

Prefixed  to  the  Relation  of  1671  is  that  monu- 
ment of  Jesuit  hardihood  and  enterprise,  the  map 
of  Lake  Superior ;  a  work  of  which,  however,  the 
exactness  has  been  exaggerated,  as  compared  with 
other  Canadian  maps  of  the  day.  While  making 
surveys,  the  priests  were  diligently  looking  for  cop- 
per. Father  Dablon  reports  that  they  had  found  it 
in  greatest  abundance  on  Isle  Minong,  now  Isle 
Royale.  "  A  day's  journey  from  the  head  of  the 
lake,  on  the  south  side,  there  is,"  he  says,  "  a  rock 


1670-72.]  STE.  MARIE   DU   SAUT.  29 

of  copper  weighing  from  six  hundred  to  eight  hun- 
dred pounds,  lying  on  the  shore  where  any  who  pass 
may  see  it ;  "  and  he  farther  speaks  of  great  copper 
boulders  in  the  bed  of  the  Elver  Ontonagan.1 

There  were  two  principal  missions  on  the  Upper 
Lakes ;  which  were,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  parents 
of  the  rest.  One  of  these  was  Ste.  Marie  du  Saut, — 
the  same  visited  by  Dollier  and  Galinee, —  at  the  out- 
let of  Lake  Superior.  This  was  a  noted  fishing- 
place  ;  for  the  rapids  were  full  of  white-fish,  and 
Indians  came  thither  in  crowds.  The  permanent 
residents  were  an  Ojibwa  band,  called  by  the  French 
Sauteurs,  whose  bark  lodges  were  clustered  at  the 
foot  of  the  rapids,  near  the  fort  of  the  Jesuits. 
Besides  these,  a  host  of  Algonquins,  of  various 
tribes,  resorted  thither  in  the  spring  and  summer ; 
living  in  abundance  on  the  fishery,  and  dispersing 
in  winter  to  wander  and  starve  in  scattered  hunting- 
parties  far  and  wide  through  the  forests. 

1  He  complains  that  the  Indians  were  very  averse  to  giving  informa- 
tion on  the  subject,  so  that  the  Jesuits  had  not  as  yet  discovered  the  metal 
in  situ,  though  they  hoped  soon  to  do  so.  The  Indians  told  him  that  the 
copper  had  first  been  found  by  four  hunters,  who  had  landed  on  a  certain 
island,  near  the  north  shore  of  the  lake.  Wishing  to  boil  their  food  in  a 
vessel  of  bark,  they  gathered  stones  on  the  shore,  heated  them  red  hot 
and  threw  them  in  ;  but  presently  discovered  them  to  be  pure  copper. 
Their  repast  over,  they  hastened  to  re-embark,  being  afraid  of  the  lynxes 
and  the  hares ;  which,  on  this  island,  were  as  large  as  dogs,  and  which 
would  have  devoured  their  provisions,  and  perhaps  their  canoe.  They 
took  with  them  some  of  the  wonderful  stones ;  but  scarcely  had  they  left 
the  island,  when  a  deep  voice,  like  thunder,  sounded  in  their  ears,  "  Who 
are  these  thieves  who  steal  the  toys  of  my  children  1 "  It  was  the  God 
of  the  Waters,  or  some  other  powerful  manito.  The  four  adventurers 
retreated  in  great  terror,  but  three  of  them  soon  died,  and  the  fourth  sur- 
vived only  long  enough  to  reach  his  village  and  tell  the  story.  The 
island  has  no  foundation,  but  floats  with  the  movement  of  the  wind;  and 
no  Indian  dares  land  on  its  shores,  dreading  the  wrath  of  the  manito.  — 
Dablon,  Relation,  1G70,  84. 

3* 


30  THE  JESUITS   ON   THE  LAKES.  [1670-72. 

The  other  chief  mission  was  that  of  St.  Esprit, 
at  La  Poiute,  near  the  western  extremity  of  Lake 
Superior.  Here  were  the  Hurons, — fugitives  twenty 
years  before  from  the  slaughter  of  their  country- 
men ;  and  the  Ottawas,  who,  like  them,  had  sought 
an  asylum  from  the  rage  of  the  Iroquois.  Many 
other  tribes, — Illinois,  Pottawattamies,  Foxes,  Meno- 
monies,  Sioux,  Assinneboins,  Knisteneaux,  and  a 
multitude  besides, — came  hither  yearly  to  trade  with 
the  French.  Here  was  a  young  Jesuit,  Jacques 
Marquette,  lately  arrived  from  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie. 
His  savage  flock  disheartened  him  by  its  backslid- 
ings :  and  the  best  that  he  could  report  of  the 
Hurons,  after  all  the  toils  and  all  the  blood  lav- 
ished in  their  conversion,  was,  that  they  "  still 
retain  a  little  Christianity ;  "  while  the  Ottawas  are 
"  far  removed  from  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  ad- 
dicted beyond  all  other  tribes  to  foulness,  incanta- 
tions, and  sacrifices  to  evil  spirits." 1 

Marquette  heard  from  the  Illinois, — yearly  visitors 
at  La  Pointe, —  of  the  great  river  which  they  had 
crossed  on  their  way,2  and  which,  as  he  conjec- 
tured, flowed  into  the  Gulf  of  California.  He 
heard  marvels  of  it  also  from  the  Sioux,  who  lived 
on  its  banks ;  and  a  strong  desire  possessed  him,  to 
explore  the  mystery  of  its  course.    A  sudden  calam- 

1  Lettre  du  Pere  Jacques  Marquette  au  R.  P.  Sup&ieur  des  Missions ;  in 
Relation,  1670,  87. 

2  The  Illinois  lived  at  this  time  beyond  the  Mississippi,  thirty  days' 
journey  from  La  Pointe  ;  whither  they  had  been  driven  by  the  Iroquois, 
from  their  former  abode  near  Lake  Michigan.  Dablon,  (Relation,  1071  ; 
24,  25,)  says  that  they  lived  seven  days' journey  beyond  the  Mississippi, 
in  eight  villages.  A  few  years  later,  most  of  them  returned  to  the  east 
side  and  made  their  abode  on  the  River  Illinois. 


1670-72.]  MARQUETTE  AND   ANDREW  31 

ity  dashed  his  hopes.  The  Sioux,  —  the  Iroquois  of 
the  West,  as  the  Jesuits  call  them,  —  had  hitherto 
kept  the  peace  with  the  expatriated  tribes  of  La 
Pointe ;  but  now,  from  some  cause  not  worth  in- 
quiry, they  broke  into  open  war,  and  so  terrified 
the  Hurons  and  Ottawas  that  they  abandoned  their 
settlements  and  fled.  Marquette  followed  his  panic- 
stricken  flock ;  who,  passing  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie, 
and  descending  to  Lake  Huron,  stopped,  at  length, 
—  the  Hurons  at  Michillimackinac,  and  the  Ottawas 
at  the  Great  Manatoulin  Island.  Two  missions 
were  now  necessary  to  minister  to  the  divided  bands. 
That  of  Michillimackinac  was  assigned  to  Mar- 
quette, and  that  of  the  Manatoulin  Island  to  Louis 
Andre.  The  former  took  post  at  Point  St.  Ignace, 
on  the  north  shore  of  the  straits  of  Michillimack- 
inac, while  the  latter  began  the  mission  of  St. 
Simon  at  the  new  abode  of  the  Ottawas.  When 
winter  came,  scattering  his  flock  to  their  hunting- 
grounds,  Andre  made  a  missionary  tour  among  the 
Nipissings  and  other  neighboring  tribes.  The  shores 
of  Lake  Huron  had  long  been  an  utter  solitude, 
swept  of  their  denizens  by  the  terror  of  the  all- 
conquering  Iroquois  ;  but  now  that  these  tigers  had 
felt  the  power  of  the  French,  and  learned  for  a 
time  to  leave  their  Indian  allies  in  peace,  the  fugi- 
tive hordes  were  returning  to  their  ancient  abodes. 
Andre's  experience  among  them  was  of  the  rough- 
est. The  staple  of  his  diet  was  acorns  and  tripe 
de  roche,  —  a  species  of  lichen,  which,  being  boiled, 
resolved  itself  into  a  black  glue,  nauseous,  but  not 
void  of  nourishment.     At  times  he  was  reduced  to 


32  THE  JESUITS   ON   THE  LAKES.  [1670-72. 

moss,  the  bark  of  trees,  or  moccasins  and  old 
moose-skins  cnt  into  strips  and  boiled.  His  hosts 
treated  him  very  ill,  and  the  worst  of  their  fare  was 
always  his  portion.  When  spring  came  to  his  re- 
lief, he  returned  to  his  post  of  St.  Simon,  with 
impaired  digestion  and  unabated  zeal. 

Besides  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie  and  Michillimack- 
inac, — both  noted  fishing-places, — there  was  another 
spot,  no  less  famous  for  game  and  fish,  and  there- 
fore a  favorite  resort  of  Indians.  This  was  the 
head  of  the  Green  Bay  of  Lake  Michigan.1  Here 
and  in  adjacent  districts  several  distinct  tribes  had 
made  their  abode.  The  Menomonies  were  on  the 
river  which  bears  their  name  ;  the  Pottawattamies 
and  Winnebagoes  were  near  the  borders  of  the 
bay;  the  Sacs  on  Fox  River;  the  Mascoutins,  Mia- 
mis,  and  Kickapoos,  on  the  same  river,  above  Lake 
Winnebago ;  and  the  Outagamies,  or  Foxes,  on  a 
tributary  of  it  flowing  from  the  north.  Green  Bay 
was  manifestly  suited  for  a  mission  ;  and,  as  early  as 
the  autumn  of  1669,  Father  Claude  Allouez  was 
sent  thither  to  found  one.  After  nearly  perishing 
by  the  way,  he  set  out  to  explore  the  destined  field 
of  his  labors,  and  went  as  far  as  the  town  of  the 
Mascoutins.  Early  in  the  autumn  of  1670,  having 
been  joined  by  Dablon,  Superior  of  the  missions 
on  the  Upper  Lakes,  he  made  another  journey  ; 

1  The  Baye  des  Puans  of  the  early  writers ;  or,  more  correctly,  La 
Baye  des  Eaux  Puantes.  The  Winnebago  Indians,  living  near  it,  were 
called  Les  Puans,  apparently  for  no  other  reason  than  because  some  por- 
tion of  the  bay  was  said  to  have  an  odor  like  the  sea. 

Lake  Michigan,  the  Lac  des  Illinois  of  the  French,  was,  according  to  a 
letter  of  Father  Allouez,  called  Machihiganing  by  the  Indians.  Dablon 
writes  the  name,  Mitchiganon. 


1670-72.]  THE  GREEN   BAY  MISSION.  33 

but  not  until  the  two  fathers  had  held  a  council 
with  the  congregated  tribes  at  St.  Francois  Xavier, 
— :  for  so  they  named  their  mission  of  Green  Bay. 
Here,  as  they  harangued  their  naked  audience, 
their  gravity  was  put  to  the  proof ;  for  a  band  of 
warriors,  anxious  to  do  them  honor,  walked  inces- 
santly up  and  down,  aping  the  movements  of  the 
soldiers  on  guard  before  the  Governor's  tent  at  Mont- 
real. "  We  could  hardly  keep  from  laughing, " 
writes  Dablon,  "  though  we  were  discoursing  on 
very  important  subjects ;  namely,  the  mysteries  of 
our  religion,  and  the  things  necessary  to  escaping 
from  eternal  fire." ' 

The  fathers  were  delighted  with  the  country, 
which  Dablon  calls  an  earthly  paradise ;  but  he 
adds  that  the  way  to  it  is  as  hard  as  the  path  to 
heaven.  He  alludes  especially  to  the  rapids  of 
Fox  River,  which  gave  the  two  travellers  great 
trouble.  Having  safely  passed  them,  they  saw  an 
Indian  idol  on  the  bank,  similar  to  that  which 
Dollier  and  Galinee  found  at  Detroit ;  being  merely 
a  rock,  bearing  some  resemblance  to  a  man,  and 
hideously  painted.  With  the  help  of  their  at- 
tendants, they  threw  it  into  the  river.  Dablon 
expatiates  on  the  buffalo  ;  which  he  describes  ap- 
parently on  the  report  of  others,  as  his  description 
is  not  very  accurate.  Crossing  Winnebago  Lake, 
the  two  priests  followed  the  river  leading  to  the 
town  of  the  Mascoutins  and  Miamis,  which  they 
reached  on  the  fifteenth  of  September.2    These  two 

1  Relation,  1671,  43. 

2  This  town  was  on  the  Neenali  or  Fox  River,  above  Lake  Winne- 
bago.    The  Mascoutins,  Eire  Nation,  or  Nation  of  the  Prairie,  are  extinct 


34  THE  JESUITS  ON   THE   LAKES.  11670-72. 

tribes  lived  together  within  the  compass  of  the 
same  inclosure  of  palisades ;  to  the  number,  it  is 
said,  of  more  than  three  thousand  souls.  The 
missionaries,  who  had  brought  a  highly-colored 
picture  of  the  Last  Judgment,  called  the  Indians 
to  council  and  displayed  it  before  them ;  while 
Allouez,  who  spoke  Algonquin,  harangued  them 
on  hell,  demons,  and  eternal  flames.  They  listened 
with  open  ears,  beset  him  night  and  day  with 
questions,  and  invited  him  and  his  companion  to 
unceasing  feasts.  They  were  welcomed  in  every 
lodge,  and  followed  everywhere  with  eyes  of  curi- 
osity, wonder,  and  awe.  Dablon  overflows  with 
praises  of  the  Miami  chief;  who  was  honored  by 
his  subjects  like  a  king,  and  whose  demeanor  to- 
wards his  guests  had  no  savor  of  the  savage. 

Their  hosts  told  them  of  the  great  river  Missis- 
sippi, rising  far  in  the  north  and  flowing  southward, 
— they  knew  not  whither,  —  and  of  many  tribes  that 
dwelt  along  its  banks.  When  at  length  they  took 
their  departure,  they  left  behind  them  a  reputation 
as  medicine-men  of  transcendent  power. 

In  the  winter  following,  Allouez  visited  the 
Foxes,  whom  he  found  in  extreme  ill-humor. 
They  were  incensed  against  the  French  by  the 
ill-usage  which  some  of  their  tribe  had  lately  met 
with  when  on  a  trading-visit  to  Montreal ;  and  they 
received  the  faith  with  shouts  of  derision.  The 
priest  was  horror-stricken  at  what  he  saw.     Their 


or  merged  in  other  tribes. — See  "Jesuits  in  North  America."  The 
Miamis  soon  removed  to  the  banks  of  the  River  St.  Joseph,  near  Lake 
Michigan. 


1670-72.1  THE   CROSS   AMONG   THE   FOXES.  35 

lodges,  —  each  containing  from  five  to  ten  families, 
—  seemed  in  his  eyes  like  seraglios  ;  for  some  of  the 
chiefs  had  eight  wives.  He  armed  himself  with 
patience,  and  at  length  gained  a  hearing.  Nay,  he 
succeeded  so  well,  that  when  he  showed  them  his 
crucifix,  they  would  throw  tobacco  on  it  as  an 
offering ;  and,  on  another  visit,  which  he  made 
them  soon  after,  he  taught  the  whole  village  to 
make  the  sign  of  the  cross.  A  war-party  was  going 
out  against  their  enemies,  and  he  bethought  him 
of  telling  them  the  story  of  the  Cross  and  the 
Emperor  Constantine.  This  so  wrought  upon  them 
that  they  all  daubed  the  figure  of  a  cross  on  their 
shields  of  bull-hide,  set  out  for  the  war,  and  came 
back  victorious,  extolling  the  sacred  symbol  as  a 
great  war-medicine. 

"  Thus  it  is,"  writes  Dablon,  who  chronicles  the 
incident,  "  that  our  holy  faith  is  established  among 
these  people  ;  and  we  have  good  hope  that  we 
shall  soon  carry  it  to  the  famous  river  called  the 
Mississippi,  and  perhaps  even  to  the  South  Sea."1 
Most  things  human  have  their  phases  of  the 
ludicrous  ;  and  the  heroism  of  these  untiring  priests ' 
is  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

The  various  missionary  stations  were  much  alike. 
They  consisted  of  a  chapel  (commonly  of  logs)  and 
one  or  more  houses,  with  perhaps  a  storehouse 
and  a  workshop, — the  whole  fenced  with  palisades, 
and  forming,  in  fact,  a  stockade  fort,  surrounded 
with  clearings  and  cultivated  fields.     It  is  evident 

1  Relation,  1672,  42. 


36  THE  JESUITS   ON  THE  LAKES.  [1670-72. 

that  the  priests  had  need  of  other  hands  than  their 
own  and  those  of  the  few  lay  brothers  attached  to 
the  mission.  They  required  men  inured  to  labor, 
accustomed  to  the  forest  life,  able  to  guide  canoes 
and  handle  tools  and  weapons.  In  the  earlier 
epoch  of  the  missions,  when  enthusiasm  was  at  its 
height,  they  were  served  in  great  measure  by 
volunteers,  who  joined  them  through  devotion  or 
penitence,  and  who  were  known  as  donnes,  or 
"  given  men."  Of  late,  the  number  of  these  had 
much  diminished ;  and  they  now  relied  chiefly  on 
hired  men,  or  engages.  These  were  employed  in 
building,  hunting,  fishing,  clearing  and  tilling  the 
ground,  guiding  canoes,  and  if  faith  is  to  be  placed 
in  reports  current  throughout  the  colony  in  trading 
with  the  Indians  for  the  profit  of  the  missions. 
This  charge  of  trading  —  which,  if  the  results  were 
applied  exclusively  to  the  support  of  the  missions, 
does  not  of  necessity  involve  much  censure  —  is 
vehemently  reiterated  in  many  quarters,  including 
the  official  despatches  of  the  Governor  of  Canada ; 
while,  so  far  as  I  can  discover,  the  Jesuits  never 
distinctly  denied  it ;  and,  on  several  occasions,  they 
partially  admitted  its  truth.1 

1  This  charge  was  made  from  the  first  establishment  of  the  missions. 
For  remarks  on  it,  see  "  Jesuits  in  North  America." 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1667-1672. 
FKANCE  TAKES  POSSESSION  OF  THE  WEST. 

Talon. — St.Ltjsson. — Perrot.  —  The  Ceremony  at  Saut  Ste.  Marie. — 
The  Speech  of  Allouez.  —  Count  Frontenac. 

Jean  Talon,  Intendant  of  Canada,  was  a  man  of 
no  common  stamp.  Able,  vigorous,  and  patriotic, — 
he  was  the  worthy  lieutenant  and  disciple  of  the 
great  minister  Colbert,  the  ill-requited  founder  of 
the  prosperity  of  Louis  XIV.  He  cherished  high 
hopes  for  the  future  of  New  France,  and  labored 
strenuously  to  realize  them.  He  urged  upon  the 
khig  a  scheme  which,  could  it  have  been  accom- 
plished, would  have  wrought  strange  changes  on 
the  American  continent.  This  was,  to  gain  pos- 
session of  New  York,  by  treaty  or  conquest ; *  thus 
giving  to  Canada  a  southern  access  to  the  ocean, 
open  at  all  seasons,  separating  New  England  from 
Virginia,  and  controlling  the  Iroquois,  the  most 
formidable  enemy  of  the  French  colony.  Louis 
XIV.  held  the  king  of  England  in  his  pay ;  and, 
had  the  proposal  been  urged,  the  result  could  not 

1  Lettre  de  Talon  a  Colbert,  27  Oct.  1667.  Twenty  years  after,  the 
plan  was  again  suggested  by  the  Governor,  Denonville. 

4 


38  FRANCE  TAKES  POSSESSION,  ETC.  [1667-70. 

have  been  foretold.  The  scheme  failed,  and  Talon 
prepared  to  use  his  present  advantages  to  the 
utmost.  While  laboring  strenuously  to  develop  the 
industrial  resources  of  the  colony,  he  addressed 
himself  to  discovering  and  occupying  the  interior 
of  the  continent ;  controlling  the  rivers,  which  were 
its  only  highways ;  and  securing  it  for  France 
against  every  other  nation.  On  the  east,  England 
was  to  be  hemmed  within  a  narrow  strip  of  sea- 
board ;  while,  on  the  south,  Talon  aimed  at  securing 
a  port  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  to  hold  the  Spaniards 
in  check,  and  dispute  with  them  the  possession  of 
the  vast  regions  which  they  claimed  as  their  own. 
But  the  interior  of  the  continent  was  still  an  un- 
known world.  It  behooved  him  to  explore  it ;  and 
to  that  end  he  availed  himself  of  Jesuits,  officers, 
fur-traders,  and  enterprising  schemers  like  La  Salle. 
His  efforts  at  discovery  seem  to  have  been  con- 
ducted with  a  singular  economy  of  the  king's  purse. 
La  Salle  paid  all  the  expenses  of  his  first  expedi- 
tion made  under  Talon's  auspices  ;  and  apparently 
of  the  second  also,  though  the  Intendant  announces  it 
in  his  despatches  as  an  expedition  sent  out  by  him- 
self.1 When,  in  1670,  he  ordered  Daumont  de  St. 
Lusson  to  search  for  copper-mines  on  Lake  Superior, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  to  take  formal  possession  of 


1  At  all  events,  La  Salle  was  in  great  need  of  money  about  the  time  of 
his  second  journey.  On  the  sixth  of  August,  1671,  he  had  received  on 
credit,  "  dans  son  grand  besoin  et  necessite,"  from  Branssat,  fiscal  attorney 
of  the  Seminary,  merchandise  to  the  amount  of  four  hundred  and  fifty 
livres  ;  and,  on  the  eighteenth  of  December  of  the  following  year,  he  gave 
his  promise  to  pay  the  same  sum,  in  money  or  furs,  in  the  August  fol- 
lowing.    Faillon  found  the  papers  in  the  ancient  records  of  Montreal. 


1670.]  ST.  LUSSON  AND  PERROT.  39 

the  whole  interior  for  the  king;  it  was  arranged 
that  he  should  pay  the  costs  of  the  journey  by 
trading  with  the  Indians.1 

St.  Lusson  set  out  with  a  small  party  of  men, 
and  Nicolas  Perrot  as  his  interpreter.  Among 
Canadian  voyageurs,  few  names  are  so  conspicuous 
as  that  of  Perrot ;  not  because  there  were  not  others 
who  matched  him  in  achievement,  but  because  he 
could  write,  and'  left  behind  him  a  tolerable  account 
of  what  he  had  seen.2  He  was  at  this  time  twenty- 
six  years  old,  and  had  formerly  been  an  engage  of 
the  Jesuits.  He  was  a  man  of  enterprise,  courage, 
and  address ;  the  last  being  especially  shown  in  his 
dealings  with  Indians,  over  whom  he  had  great 
influence.  He  spoke  Algonquin  fluently,  and  was 
favorably  known  to  many  tribes  of  that  family.  St. 
Lusson  wintered  at  the  Manatoulin  Islands ;  while 
Perrot  —  having  first  sent  messages  to  the  tribes  of 
the  north,  inviting  them  to  meet  the  deputy  of  the 
Governor  at  the  Saut  Ste.  Marie  in  the  following 
spring  —  proceeded  to  Green  Bay,  to  urge  the  same 
invitation  upon  the  tribes  of  that  quarter.  They 
knew  him  well,  and  greeted  him  with  clamors  of 
welcome.  The  Miamis,  it  is  said,  received  him  with 
a  sham  battle,  which  was  designed  to  do  him  honor, 
but  by  which  nerves  more  susceptible  would  have 


1  In  his  despatch  of  2d  Nov.  1671,  Talon  writes  to  the  king  that  "  St. 
Lusson's  expedition  will  cost  nothing,  as  he  has  received  beaver  enough 
from  the  Indians  to  pay  him." 

2  Moeurs,  Coustum.es,  et  Rdligion  des  Sauvages  de  I'Ame'rique  Septen- 
trionale.  This  work  of  Perrot,  hitherto  unpublished,  appeared  in  1864, 
under  the  editorship  of  Father  Tailhan,  S.J.  A  great  part  of  it  is  incor- 
porated in  La  Potherie. 


40  FRANCE  TAKES  POSSESSION,  ETC.  [1670-71. 

been  severely  shaken.1  They  entertained  him  also 
with  a  grand  game  of  la  crosse,  the  Indian  ball- 
play.  Perrot  gives  a  marvellous  account  of  the 
authority  and  state  of  the  Miami  chief;  who,  he 
says,  was  attended  day  and  night  by  a  guard  of 
warriors,  —  an  assertion  which  would  be  incredible 
were  it  not  sustained  by  the  account  of  the  same 
chief  given  by  the  Jesuit  Dablon.  Of  the  tribes 
of  the  Bay,  the  greater  part  promised  to  send  dele- 
gates to  the  Saut ;  but  the  Pottawattamies  dissuaded 
the  Miami  potentate  from  attempting  so  long  a 
journey,  lest  the  fatigue  incident  to  it  might  injure 
his  health ;  and  he  therefore  deputed  them  to  rep- 
resent him  and  his  tribesmen  at  the  great  meeting. 
Their  principal  chiefs,  with  those  of  the  Sacs,  Win- 
nebagoes,  and  Menomonies,  embarked,  and  paddled 
for  the  place  of  rendezvous ;  where  they  and  Perrot 
arrived  on  the  fifth  of  May.2 

St.  Lusson  was  here  with  his  men,  fifteen  in  num- 
ber, among  whom  was  Louis  Joliet ; 3  and  Indians 
were  fast  thronging  in  from  their  wintering  grounds ; 
attracted,  as  usual,  by  the  fishery  of  the  rapids,  or 
moved  by  the  messages  sent  by  Perrot,  —  Crees,  Mon- 
sonis,  Amikoues,  Nipissings,  and  many  more.  When 
fourteen  tribes,  or  their  representatives,  had  arrived, 
St.  Lusson  prepared  to  execute  the  commission  Avith 
which  he  was  charged. 

1  See  La  Potherie,  ii.  125.  Perrot  himself  does  not  mention  it.  Chnrle 
voix  erroneously  places  this  interview  at  Chicago.  Perrot's  narrative 
shows  that  he  did  not  go  farther  than  the  tribes  of  Green  Bay  ;  and  the 
Miamis  were  then,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  upper  part  of  Fox  River. 

2  Perrot,  Me'moires,  127. 

3  Proces  Verbal  de  la  Prise  de  Possession,  etc.,  14  Juin,  1671.  The 
names  are  attached  to  tins  instrument. 


1671.]  CEREMONY  AT  THE  SAUT.  41 

At  the  foot  of  the  rapids  was  the  village  of  the 
Sauteurs,  above  the  village  was  a  hill,  and  hard  by 
stood  the  fort  of  the  Jesuits.  On  the  morning  of 
the  fourteenth  of  June,  St.  Lusson  led  his  followers 
to  the  top  of  the  hill,  all  fully  equipped  and  under 
arms.  Here,  too,  in  the  vestments  of  their  priestly 
office,  were  four  Jesuits,  —  Claude  Dablon,  Superior 
of  the  Missions  of  the  Lakes,  Gabriel  Druilletes, 
Claude  Allouez,  and  Louis  Andre.1  All  around, 
the  great  throng  of  Indians  stood,  or  crouched,  or 
reclined  at  length,  with  eyes  and  ears  intent.  A 
large  cross  of  wood  had  been  made  ready.  Dablon, 
in  solemn  form,  pronounced  his  blessing  on  it ;  and 
then  it  was  reared  and  planted  in  the  ground,  while 
the  Frenchmen,  uncovered,  sang  the  Vexilla  Regis. 
Then  a  post  of  cedar  was  planted  beside  it,  with 
a  metal  plate  attached,  engraven  with  the  royal 
arms ;  while  St.  Lusson' s  followers  sang  the  Ex- 
audiat  and  one  of  the  Jesuits  uttered  a  prayer 
for  the  king.  St.  Lusson  now  advanced,  and,  hold- 
ing his  sword  in  one  hand,  and  raising  with  the 
other  a  sod  of  earth,  proclaimed  in  a  loud  voice, — 

"  In  the  name  of  the  Most  High,  Mighty,  and  Re- 
doubted Monarch,  Louis,  Fourteenth  of  that  name, 
Most  Christian  King  of  France  and  of  Navarre,  I 
take  possession  of  this  place,  Sainte  Marie  du  Saut, 
as  also  of  Lakes  Huron  and  Superior,  the  Island  of 
Manatoulin,  and  all  countries,  rivers,  lakes,  and 
streams  contiguous  and    adjacent   thereunto ;  both 

1  Marquette  is  said  to  have  been  present ;  but  the  official  act,  just  cited, 
proves  the  contrary.     He  was  still  at  St.  Esprit. 

4* 


42  FRANCE  TAKES  POSSESSION,  ETC.  [1671. 

those  which  have  been  discovered  and  those  which 
may  be  discovered  hereafter,  in  all  their  length  and 
breadth,  bounded  on  the  one  side  by  the  seas  of  the 
North  and  of  the  West,  and  on  the  other  by  the 
South  Sea :  declaring  to  the  nations  thereof  that 
from  this  time  forth  they  are  vassals  of  his  Ma- 
jesty, bound  to  obey  his  laws  and  follow  his  cus- 
toms :  promising  them  on  his  part  all  succor  and 
protection  against  the  incursions  and  invasions  of 
their  enemies :  declaring  to  all  other  potentates, 
princes,  sovereigns,  states  and  republics,  —  to  them 
and  their  subjects,  —  that  they  cannot  and  are  not  to 
seize  or  settle  upon  any  parts  of  the  aforesaid  coun- 
tries, save. only  under  the  good  pleasure  of  His  Most 
Christian  Majesty,  and  of  him  who  will  govern  in 
his  behalf;  and  this  on  pain  of  incurring  his  re- 
sentment and  the  efforts  of  his  arms.  Vive  le 
Roi:n 

The  Frenchmen  fired  their  guns  and  shouted 
"  Vive  le  Boi"  and  the  yelps  of  the  astonished  In- 
dians mingled  with  the  din. 

What  now  remains  of  the  sovereignty  thus 
pompously  proclaimed'?  Now  and  then,  the  ac- 
cents of  France  on  the  lips  of  some  straggling  boat- 
man or  vagabond  half-breed ;  —  this,  and  nothing 
more. 

When  the  uproar  was  over,  Father  Allpuez  ad- 
dressed the  Indians  in  a  solemn  harangue ;  and 
these  were  his  words  :  "  It  is  a  good  work,  my 
brothers,  an  important  work,  a  great  work,  that 
brings  us  together  in  council  to-day.     Look  up  at 

1  Proces  Verbal  de  la  Prise  de  Possession. 


1671.]  ST.  LUSSON'S  HARANGUE.  43 

the  cross  which  rises  so  high  above  your  heads.  It 
was  there  that  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  after 
making  himself  a  man  for  the  love  of  men,  was 
nailed  and  died,  to  satisfy  his  Eternal  Father  for 
our  sins.  He  is  the  master  of  our  lives  ;  the  ruler 
of  Heaven,  Earth,  and  Hell.  It  is  he  of  whom  I 
am  continually  speaking  to  you,  and  whose  name 
and  word  I  have  borne  through  all  your  country. 
But  look  at  this  post  to  which  are  fixed  the  arms 
of  the  great  chief  of  France,  whom  we  call  King. 
He  lives  across  the  sea.  He  is  the  chief  of  the 
greatest  chiefs,  and  has  no  equal  on  earth.  All  the 
chiefs  whom  you  have  ever  seen  are  but  children 
beside  him.  He  is  like  a  great  tree,  and  they  are 
but  the  little  herbs  that  one  walks  over  and  tram- 
ples under  foot.  You  know  Onontio,1  that  famous 
chief  at  Quebec  ;  you  know  and  you  have  seen  that 
he  is  the  terror  of  the  Iroquois,  and  that  his  very 
name  makes  them  tremble,  since  he  has  laid  their 
country  waste  and  burned  their  towns  with  fire. 
Across  the  sea  there  are  ten  thousand  Onontios  iike 
him,  who  are  but  the  warriors  of  our  great  King,  of 
whom  I  have  told  you.  When  he  says,  '  I  am  going 
to  war,'  everybody  obeys  his  orders ;  and  each  of 
these  ten  thousand  chiefs  raises  a  troop  of  a  hun- 
dred warriors,  some  on  sea  and  some  on  land. 
Some  embark  in  great  ships,  such  as  you  have  seen 
at  Quebec.  •  Your  canoes  carry  only  four  or  five 
men,  or  at  the  most,  ten  or  twelve ;  but  our  ships 
carry  four  or  five  hundred,  and  sometimes  a  thou- 
sand.    Others  go  to  war  by  land,  and  in  such  num- 

1  The  Indian  name  of  the  Governor  of  Canada. 


±4:  FRANCE  TAKES  POSSESSION,  ETC.  [1671. 

bers  that  if  they  stood  in  a  double  file  they  would 
reach  from  here  to  Mississaquenk,  which  is  more 
than  twenty  leagues  off.  When  our  King  attacks 
his  enemies,  he  is  more  terrible  than  the  thunder  : 
the  earth  trembles  ;  the  ah  and  the  sea  are  all  on 
fire  with  the  blaze  of  his  cannon :  he  is  seen  in  the 
midst  of  his  warriors,  covered  over  with  the  blood 
of  his  enemies,  whom  he  kills  in  such  numbers, 
that  he  does  not  reckon  them  by  the  scalps,  but  by 
the  streams  of  blood  which  he  causes  to  flow.  He 
takes  so  many  prisoners  that  he  holds  them  in  no 
account,  but  lets  them  go  where  they  will,  to  show 
that  he  is  not  afraid  of  them.  But  now  nobody 
dares  make  war  on  him.  All  the  nations  beyond 
the  sea  have  submitted  to  him  and  begged  humbly 
for  peace.  Men  come  from  every  quarter  of  the 
earth  to  listen  to  him  and  admire  him.  All  that  is 
done  in  the  world  is  decided  by  him  alone. 

But  what  shall  I  say  of  his  riches  ?  You  thmk 
yourselves  rich  when  you  have  ten  or  twelve  sacks 
of  corn,  a  few  hatchets,  beads,  kettles,  and  other 
things  of  that  sort.  He  has  cities  of  his  own, 
more  than  there  are  of  men  in  all  this  country  for 
five  hundred  leagues  around.  In  each  city  there 
are  store-houses  where  there  are  hatchets  enough 
to  cut  down  all  your  forests,  kettles  enough  to  cook 
all  your  moose,  and  beads  enough  to  fill  all  your 
lodges.  His  house  is  longer  than  from  here  to  the 
top  of  the  Saut,  —  that  is  to  say,  more  than  half  a 
league,  —  and  higher  than  your  tallest  trees  ;  and 
it  holds  more  families  than  the  largest   of   your 


1671-72.]  TALON  AND  COURCELLES.  45 

towns."1  The  Father  added  more  in  a  similar 
strain  ;  but  the  peroration  of  his  harangue  is  not  on 
record. 

Whatever  impression  this  curious  effort  of  Jesuit 
rhetoric  may  have  produced  upon  the  hearers,  it 
did  not  prevent  them  from  stripping  the  royal  arms 
from  the  post  to  which  they  were  nailed,  as  soon  as 
St.  Lusson  and  his  men  had  left  the  Saut ;  proba- 
bly, not  because  they  understood  the  import  of  the 
symbol,  but  because  they  feared  it  as  a  charm.  St. 
Lusson  proceeded  to  Lake  Superior ;  where,  how- 
ever, he  accomplished  nothing,  except,  perhaps,  a 
traffic  with  the  Indians  on  his  own  account ;  and  he 
soon  after  returned  to  Quebec.  Talon  was  resolved 
to  find  the  Mississippi,  the  most  interesting  object 
of  search,  and  seemingly  the  most  attainable,  in  the 
wild  and  vague  domain  which  he  had  just  claimed 
for  the  king.  The  Indians  had  described  it ;  the 
Jesuits  were  eager  to  discover  it ;  and  La  Salle,  if 
he  had  not  reached  it,  had  explored  two  several 
avenues  by  which  it  might  be  approached.  Talon 
looked  about  him  for  a  fit  agent  of  the  enterprise, 
and  made  choice  of  Louis  Joliet,  who  had  returned 
from  Lake  Superior.2  But  the  Intendant  was  not 
to  see  the  fulfilment  of  his  design.  His  busy  and 
useful  career  in  Canada  was  drawing  to  an  end. 
A  misunderstanding  had  arisen  between  him  and 
the  Governor,  Courcelles.     Both  were  able  and  pub- 

1  A  close  translation  of  Dablon's  report  of  the  speech.  See  Relation, 
1671,  27. 

2  Lettre  de  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  2  Nov.  1672,  MS.  In  the  Brodhead 
Collection,  by  a  copyist's  error,  the  name  of  the  Chevalier  de  Grandfon- 
taine  is  substituted  for  that  of  Talon. 


46  FRANCE   TAKES  POSSESSION,  ETC.  [1672. 

lie-spirited  ;  but  the  relations  between  the  two  chiefs 
of  the  colony  were  of  a  nature  necessarily  so  criti- 
cal, that  a  conflict  of  authority  was  scarcely  to  be 
avoided.  The  Governor  presided  at  the  council, 
and  held  the  military  command ;  the  Intendant 
directed  affairs  of  justice,  finance,  and  commerce. 
Each  thought  his  functions  encroached  upon,  and 
both  asked  for  recall.1  Another  governor  suc- 
ceeded ;  one  who  was  to  stamp  his  mark,  broad, 
bold,  and  ineffaceable,  on  the  most  memorable  page 
of  French- American  History. 

In  the  Church  of  Notre  Dame,  at  Quebec,  on  a 
day  in  the  early  autumn  of  1672,  the  priests  were 
singing  Te  Deurn  for  the  safe  arrival  of  him  whom 
they  were  soon  to  wish  beyond  the  sea  again,  or 
beneath  it.  Here  you  would  have  seen  the  new 
governor  surrounded  by  officers,  and  by  the  chief 
inhabitants,  anxious  to  pay  their  court ;  a  tall  man 
in  the  pompous  garb  of  a  military  noble  of  that 
gorgeous  reign,  well  advanced  in  middle  life,  but 
whose  high  keen  features,  full  of  intellect  and  fire, 
bespoke  his  prompt  undaunted  nature,  —  Louis  de 
Buade,  Count  of  Palluau  and  Frontenac.  He  be- 
longed to  the  high  nobility,  had  held  important 
commands,  and,  if  the  song- writers  of  his  rime 
speak  true,  had  anticipated  the  king  in  the  favors 
of    Madame     de     Montespan.2      His    wife,    who 

1  Courcelles  returned  home  on  the  plea  of  ill  health.  Talon  remained 
a  little  longer ;  but  soon  asked  leave  to  return  to  France,  seeing  that  he 
should  fare  worse  with  the  new  governor  than  with  the  old. 

2  See  B  rune  t,  in  notes  to  Correspondance  de  la  Duckesse  d' Orleans;  Pau- 
lin,  in  notes  to  the  Historiett.es  de  Tallement  des  Beaux;  and  Margry,  in 
Journal  General  de  V Instruction  Publique. 


1672.]  FRONTENAC.  47 

could  not  endure  him  —  and  the  aversion  seems  to 
have  been  mutual  —  was  a  noted  beauty  of  the 
court,  and  held  great  influence  in  its  brilliant  and 
corrupt  society.1  Frontenac  was  full  of  faults ; 
but  it  is  not  through  these  that  his  memory  has 
survived  him.  He  was  domineering,  arbitrary,  in- 
tolerant of  opposition,  irascible,  vehement  in  preju- 
dice, often  wayward,  perverse,  and  jealous :  a 
persecutor  of  those  who  crossed  him ;  yet  capable, 
by  fits,  of  moderation,  and  a  magnanimous  lenity ; 
and  gifted  with  a  rare  charm  —  not  always  exerted 
—  to  win  the  attachment  of  men :  versed  in  books, 
polished  in  courts  and  salons  ;  without  fear,  incapa- 
ble of  repose,  keen  and  broad  of  sight,  clear  in 
judgment,  prompt  in  decision,  fruitful  in  resources, 
unshaken  when  others  despaired  ;  a  sure  breeder  of 
storms  in  time  of  peace,  but  in  time  of  calamity 
and  danger  a  tower  of  strength.  His  early  career 
in  America  was  beset  with  ire  and  enmity ;  but 
admiration  and  gratitude  hailed  him  at  its  close : 
for  it  was  he  who  saved  the  colony  and  led  it 
triumphant  from  an  abyss  of  ruin.2 


1  St.  Simon  and  Mademoiselle  de  Montpensier  give  very  curious  ac- 
counts of  Madame  de  Frontenac,  who  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Lettres  de 
Madame  de  Sevigne'.     Her  portrait  will  be  found  at  Versailles. 

2  In  the  Library  of  the  Seminary  of  Quebec  is  preserved  the  funeral 
oration  pronounced  over  the  body  of  Frontenac  by  Olivier  Goyer,  a 
Reeollet  friar.  It  is  a  blind  and  wholesale  panegyric,  but  it  is  interlined 
with  notes  and  comments  at  great  length,  by  some  other  ecclesiastic,  a 
bitter  enemy  of  the  Governor.  He  is  vindictive  and  acrimonious  beyond 
measure ;  but,  between  the  two,  a  good  deal  of  truth  is  struck  out.  Charle- 
voix's estimate  of  Frontenac  is  admirably  candid,  when  it  is  remembered 
that  he  writes  of  an  enemy  of  his  Order.  The  career  of  Frontenac,  his 
letters,  and  those  of  his  enemies,  —  if  which  many  are  preserved, —  are, 
however,  his  best  interpretation. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1672-1675. 
THE  DISCOVERY  OE  THE   MISSISSIPPI. 

JOLIET  SENT  TO  FIND  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  —  JACQUES  MARQUETTE.  —  DEPAR- 
TURE. —  Green  Bat.  —  The  Wisconsin.  —  The  Mississippi.  —  Indians. 
—  Manitous.  —  The  Arkansas.  —  The  Illinois.  —  Joliet's  Misfor- 
tune. —  Marquette  at  Chicago.  —  His  Illness.  —  His  Death. 

If  Talon  had  remained  in  the  colony,  Frontenac 
would  infallibly  have  quarrelled  with  him  ;  but  he 
was  too  clear-sighted  not  to  approve  his  plans  for 
the  discovery  and  occupation  of  the  interior.  Be- 
fore sailing  for  France,  Talon  recommended  Joliet 
as  a  suitable  agent  for  the  discovery  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  the  Governor  accepted  his  counsel.1 

'Louis  Joliet  was  the  son  of  a  wagon-maker  in 
the  service  of  the  Company  of  the  Hundred  Asso- 
ciates,2 then  owners  of  Canada.  He  was  born  at 
Quebec  in  1645,  was  educated  by  the  Jesuits  ;  and, 
when  still  very  young,  he  resolved  to  be  a  priest. 
He  received  the  tonsure  and  the  minor  orders  at 
the  age  of  seventeen.  Four  years  after,  he  is  men- 
tioned with  especial  honor  for  the  part  he  bore  in 

1  Lettre  de  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  2  Nov.  1672 ;  Ibid.  14  Nov.  1674. 
MSS. 

2  See  "  Jesuits  in  North  America." 


1673.]  JOLIET. 


49 


the  disputes  in  philosophy,  at  which  the  dignitaries 
of  the  colony  were  present,  and  in  which  the 
Intendant  himself  took  part.1  Not  long  after,  he 
renounced  his  clerical  vocation,  and  turned  fur- 
trader.  Talon  sent  him,  with  one  Pere,  to  explore 
the  copper-mines  of  Lake  Superior ;  and  it  was  on 
his  return  from  this  expedition  that  he  met  La  Salle 
and  the  Sulpitians  near  the  head  of  Lake  Ontario.2 

In  what  we  know  of  Joliet,  there  is  nothing  that 
reveals  any  salient  or  distinctive  trait  of  character, 
any  especial  breadth  of  view  or  boldness  of  design. 
He  appears  to  have  been  simply  a  merchant,  intel- 
ligent, well  educated,  courageous,  hardy,  and  enter- 
prising. Though  he  had  renounced  the  priesthood, 
he  retained  his  partiality  for  the  Jesuits ;  and  it  is 
more  than  probable  that  their  influence  had  aided 
not  a  little  to  determine  Talon's  choice.  One  of 
their  number,  Jacques  Marquette,  was  chosen  to 
accompany  him. 

He  passed  up  the  lakes  to  Michillimackinac  ;  and 
found  his  destined  companion  at  Point  St.  Ignace, 
on  the  north  side  of  the  strait ;  where,  in  his  pali- 


1  "Le  2  Juillet  (1666)  les  premieres  disputes  de  philosophie  se  font 
dans  la  congregation  avec  sueces.  Toutes  les  puissances  s'y  trouvent; 
M.  l'Intendant  entr'autres  y  a  argumente  tres-bien.  M.  Jolliet  et  Pierre 
Francheville  y  ont  tres-bien  repondu  de  toute  la  logique."  —  Journal  des 
Je'sni/es,  MS. 

2  Nothing  was  known  of  Joliet  till  Shea  investigated  his  history. 
Ferland,  in  his  Notes  sur  les  Registres  de  Nolre-Dame  de  Qne'bec ;  Faillon,  in 
his  Colonie  Francaise  en  Canada;  and  Margry,  in  a  series  of  papers  in  the 
Journal  Ge'ue'rul  de  I' Instruction  Publique,  —  have  thrown  much  new  light  on 
his  life.  From  journals  of  a  voyage  made  by  him  at  a  later  period  to  the 
coast  of  Labrador,  —  given  in  substance  by  Margry,  —  he  seems  to  have 
been  a  man  of  close  and  intelligent  observation.  His  mathematical  ac- 
quirements appear  to  have  been  very  considerable. 

5 


50  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

saded  mission-house  and  chapel,  he  had  labored  for 
two  years  past  to  instruct  the  Huron  refugees  from 
St.  Esprit,  and  a  band  of  Ottawas  who  had  joined 
them.  Marquette  was  born  in  1637,  of  an  old  and 
honorable  family  at  Laon,  in  the  north  of  France, 
and  was  now  thirty-five  years  of  age.  When  about 
seventeen,  he  had  joined  the  Jesuits,  evidently  from 
motives  purely  religious  ;  and  in  1666  he  was  sent 
to  the  missions  of  Canada.  At  first  he  was  destined 
to  the  station  of  Tadoussac  ;  and,  to  prepare  himself 
for  it,  he  studied  the  Montagnais  language  under 
Gabriel  Druilletes.  But  his  destination  was  changed, 
and  he  was  sent  to  the  Upper  Lakes  in  1668,  where 
he  had  since  remained.  His  talents  as  a  linguist 
must  have  been  great;  for,  within  a  few  years,  he 
learned  to  speak  with  ease  six  Indian  languages. 
The  traits  of  his  character  are  unmistakable.  He 
was  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  early  Canadian  mis- 
sionaries, and  the  true  counterpart  of  Gamier  or 
Jogues.  He  was  a  devout  votary  of  the  Virgin 
Mary ;  who,  imaged  to  his  mind  in  shapes  of  the 
most  transcendent  loveliness  with  which  the  pencil 
of  human  genius  has  ever  informed  the  canvas,  was 
to  him  the  object  of  an  adoration  not  unmingled 
with  a  sentiment  of  chivalrous  devotion.  The  long- 
ings of  a  sensitive  heart,  divorced  from  earth,  sought 
solace  in  the  skies.  A  subtile  element  of  romance 
was  blended  with  the  fervor  of  his  worship,  and 
hung  like  an  illumined  cloud  over  the  harsh  and 
hard  realities  of  his  daily  lot.  Kindled  by  the  smile 
of  his  celestial  mistress,  his  gentle  and  noble  nature 
knew  no  fear.     For  her  he  burned  to  dare  and  to 


1673.]  DEPARTURE.  51 

suffer,  discover  new  lands  and  conquer  new  realms 
to  her  sway. 

He  begins  the  journal  of  his  voyage  thus  :  "  The 
day  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Holy 
Virgin;  whom  I  had  continually  invoked,  since  I 
came  to  this  country  of  the  Ottawas,  to  obtain  from 
God  the  favor  of  being  enabled  to  visit  the  nations 
on  the  river  Mississippi  —  this  very  day  was  precise- 
ly that  on  which  M.  Joliet  arrived  with  orders  from 
Count  Frontenac,  our  Governor,  and  from  M.  Talon, 
our  Intendant,  to  go  with  me  on  this  discovery.  I 
was  all  the  more  delighted  at  this  good  news,  be- 
cause I  saw  my  plans  about  to  be  accomplished, 
and  found  myself  in  the  happy  necessity  of  exposing 
my  life  for  the  salvation  of  all  these  tribes ;  and 
especially  of  the  Illinois,  who,  when  I  was  at  Point 
St.  Esprit,  had  begged  me  very  earnestly  to  bring 
the  word  of  God  among  them." 

The  outfit  of  the  travellers  was  very  simple. 
They  provided  themselves  with  two  birch  canoes, 
and  a  supply  of  smoked  meat  and  Indian  corn ;  em- 
barked with  five  men ;  and  began  their  voyage  on 
the  seventeenth  of  May.  They  had  obtained  all 
possible  information  from  the  Indians,  and  had 
made,  by  means  of  it,  a  species  of  map  of  their 
intended  route.  "  Above  all,"  writes  Marquette, 
"  I  placed  our  voyage  under  the  protection  of  the 
Holy  Virgin  Immaculate,  promising  that  if  she 
granted  us  the  favor  of  discovering  the  great  river, 
I  would  give  it  the  name  of  the  Conception."  1    Their 

1  The  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  sanctioned  in  our  own 
time  by  the  Pope,  was  always  a  favorite  tenet  of  the  Jesuits  ;  and  Mar- 
quette was  especially  devoted  to  it. 


52  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

course  was  westward  ;  and,  plying  their  paddles, 
they  passed  the  Straits  of  Michillimackinac,  and 
coasted  the  northern  shores  of  Lake  Michigan ; 
landing  at  evening  to  build  their  camp-fire  at  the 
edge  of  the  forest,  and  draw  up  their  canoes  on 
the  strand.  They  soon  reached  the  river  Meno- 
monie,  and  ascended  it  to  the  village  of  the  Menomo- 
nies,  or  Wild-rice  Indians.1  When  they  told  them 
the  object  of  their  voyage,  they  were  filled  with 
astonishment,  and  used  their  best  ingenuity  to  dis- 
suade them.  The  banks  of  the  Mississippi,  they 
said,  were  inhabited  by  ferocious  tribes,  who  put 
every  stranger  to  death,  tomahawking  all  new-com- 
ers without  cause  or  provocation.  They  added 
that  there  was  a  demon  in  a  certain  part  of  the 
river,  whose  roar  could  be  heard  at  a  great  distance, 
and  who  would  engidf  them  in  the  abyss  where 
he  dwelt ;  that  its  waters  were  full  of  frightful 
monsters,  who  would  devour  them  and  their  canoe ; 
and,  finally,  that  the  heat  was  so  great  that  they 
would  perish  inevitably.  Marquette  set  their  counsel 
at  naught,  gave  them  a  few  words  of  instruction  in 
the  mysteries  of  the  Faith,  taught  them  a  prayer, 
and  bade  them  farewell.  . . 

The  travellers  soon  reached  the  mission  at  the 
head  of  Green  Bay  ;  entered  the  Fox  River  ;  with 
difficulty  and  labor  dragged  their  canoes  up  the 
long   and  tumultuous   rapids ;   crossed  Lake  Win- 


1  The  Malhoumines,  Malouminek,  Oumalouminek,  or  Nation  des 
Folles-Avoines,  of  early  French  writers.  The  folle-avoine,  wild  oats  or 
"  wild  rice,"  — Zizania  aquatica,  —  was  their  ordinary  food,  as  also  of  other 
tribes  of  this  region. 


1673.]  MASCOUTINS;  MIAMIS.  53 

nebago ;  and  followed  the  quiet  windings  of  the 
river  beyond,  where  they  glided  through  an  endless 
growth  of  wild  rice,  and  scared  the  innumerable 
birds  that  fed  upon  it.  On  either  hand  rolled  the 
prairie,  dotted  with  groves  and  trees,  browsing  elk 
and  deer.1  On  the  seventh  of  June,  they  reached 
the  Mascoutins  and  Miamis,  who,  since  the  visit  of 
Dablon  and  Allouez,  had  been  joined  by  the  Kick- 
apoos.  Marquette,  who  had  an  eye  for  natural 
beauty,  was  delighted  with  the  situation  of  the  town, 
which  he  describes  as  standing  on  the  crown  of  a 
hill ;  while,  all  around,  the  prairie  stretched  beyond 
the  sight,  interspersed  with  groves  and  belts  of  tall 
forest.  But  he  was  still  more  delighted  when  he 
saw  a  cross  planted  in  the  midst  of  the  place.  The 
Indians  had  decorated  it  with  a  number  of  dressed 
deer-skins,  red  girdles,  and  bows  and  arrows,  which 
they  had  hung  upon  it  as  an  offering  to  the  Great 
Manitou  of  the  French,  —  a  sight  by  which,  as  Mar- 
quette says,  he  was  "  extremely  consoled." 

The  travellers  had  no  sooner  reached  the  town 
than  they  called  the  chiefs  and  elders  to  a  council. 
Joliet  told  them  that  the  Governor  of  Canada  had 
sent  him  to  discover  new  countries,  and  that  God 
had  sent  his  companion  to  teach  the  true  faith  to 
the  inhabitants ;  and  he  prayed  for  guides  to  show 
them  the  way  to  the  waters  of  the  Wisconsin.  The 
council  readily  consented ;  and  on  the  tenth  of  June 


1  Dablon,  on  his  journey  with  Allouez  in  1670,  was  delighted  with  the 
aspect  of  the  country  and  the  abundance  of  game  along  this  river.  Carver, 
a  century  later,  speaks  to  the  same  effect,  —  saying  the  birds  rose  up  in 
clouds  from  the  wild-rice  marshes. 

5* 


54  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

the  Frenchmen  embarked  again,  with  two  Indians 
to  conduct  them.  All  the  town  came  down  to 
the  shore  to  see  their  departure.  Here  were  the 
Miamis,  with  long  locks  of  hair  dangling  over  each 
ear,  after  a  fashion  which  Marquette  thought  very 
becoming ;  and  here,  too,  the  Mascoutins  and  the 
Kickapoos,  whom  he  describes  as  mere  boors  in 
comparison  with  their  Miami  townsmen.  All  stared 
alike  at  the  seven  adventurers,  marvelling  that  men 
could  be  found  to  risk  an  enterprise  so  hazardous. 

The  river  twisted  among  lakes  and  marshes 
choked  with  wild  rice  ;  and,  but  for  their  guides, 
they  could  scarcely  have  followed  the  perplexed 
and  narrow  channel.  It  brought  them  at  last  to 
the  portage  ;  where,  after  carrying  their  canoes  a 
mile  -and  a  half  over  the  prairie  and  through  the 
marsh,  they  launched  them  on  the  Wisconsin,  bade 
farewell  to  the  waters  that  flowed  to  the  St.  Law- 
rence, and  committed  themselves  to  the  current 
that  was  to  bear  them  they  knew  not  whither, — 
perhaps  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  perhaps  to  the 
South  Sea  or  the  Gulf  of  California.  They  glided 
calmly  down  the  tranquil  stream,  by  islands  choked 
with  trees  and  matted  with  entangling  grape-vines  ; 
by  forests,  groves,  and  prairies,  —  the  parks  and 
pleasure-grounds  of  a  prodigal  nature ;  by  thickets 
and  marshes  and  broad  bare  sand-bars  ;  under  the 
shadowing  trees,  between  whose  tops  looked  down 
from  afar  the  bold  brow  of  some  woody  bluff.  At 
night,  the  bivouac,  —  the  canoes  inverted  on  the 
bank,  the  flickering  fire,  the  meal  of  bison-flesh 
or  venison,  the  evening  pipes,  and  slumber  beneath 


1673.]  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  55 

the  stars :  and  when  in  the  morning  they  embarked 
again,  the  mist  hung  on  the  river  like  a  bridal  veil ; 
then  melted  before  the  sun,  till  the  glassy  water 
and  the  languid  woods  basked  breathless  in  the 
sultry  glare.1 

On  the  17th  of  June,  they  saw  on  their  right 
the  broad  meadows,  bounded  in  the  distance  by 
rugged  hills,  where  now  stand  the  town  and  fort 
of  Prairie  du  Chien.  Before  them,  a  wide  and 
rapid  current  coursed  athwart  their  way,  by  the 
foot  of  lofty  heights  wrapped  thick  in  forests. 
They  had  found  what  they  sought,  and  "  with  a 
joy,"  writes  Marquette,  "  which  I  cannot  express," 
they  steered  forth  their  canoes  on  the  eddies  of  the 
Mississippi. 

Turning  southward,  they  paddled  down  the 
stream,  through  a  solitude  unrelieved  by  the  faint- 
est trace  of  man.  A  large  fish,  apparently  one  of 
the  huge  cat-fish  of  the  Mississippi,  blundered 
against  Marquette's  canoe  with  a  force  which 
seems  to  have  startled  him  ;  and  once,  as  they 
drew  in  their  net,  they  caught  a  "  spade-fish," 
whose  eccentric  appearance  greatly  astonished 
them.  At  langth,  the  buffalo  began  to  appear, 
grazing  in  herds  on  the  great  prairies  which  then 
bordered  the  river ;  and  Marquette  describes  the 
fierce  and  stupid  look  of  the  old  bulls,  as  they 
stared  at  the  intruders  through  the  tangled  mane 
which  nearly  blinded  them. 

They  advanced  with  extreme  caution,  landed  at 

1  The  above  traits  of  the  scenery  of  the  Wisconsin  are  taken  from  per- 
sonal observation  of  the  river  during  midsummer. 


c 


56  THE  DISCOVERY   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

night,  and  made  a  fire  to  cook  their  evening  meal ; 
then  extinguished  it,  embarked  again,  paddled  some 
way  farther,  and  anchored  in  the  stream,  keeping 
a  man  on  the  watch  till  morning.  They  had  jour- 
neyed more  than  a  fortnight  without  meeting  a 
human  being;  when,  on  the  25th,  they  discovered 
footprints  of  men  in  the  mud  of  the  western  bank, 
and  a  well-trodden  path  that  led  to  the  adjacent 
prairie.  Joliet  and  Marquette  resolved  to  follow 
it ;  and,  leaving  the  canoes  in  charge  of  their  men, 
they  set  out  on  their  hazardous  adventure.  The 
day  was  fair,  and  they  walked  two  leagues  in 
silence,  following  the  path  through  the  forest  and 
across  the  sunny  prairie,  till  they  discovered  an 
Indian  village  on  the  banks  of  a  river,  and  two 
others  on  a  hill  half  a  league  distant.1  Now,  with 
beating  hearts,  they  invoked  the  aid  of  Heaven, 
and,  again  advancing,  came  so  near  without  being 
seen,  that  they  could  hear  the  voices  of  the  Indians 
among  the  wigwams.  Then  they  stood  forth  in 
full  view,  and  shouted,  to  attract  attention.  There 
wTas  great  commotion  in  the  village.  The  inmates 
swarmed  out  of  their  huts,  and  four  of  their  chief 
men  presently  came  forward  to  meet  the  strangers, 
advancing  very  deliberately,  and  holding  up  toward 
the  sun  two  calumets,  or  peace-pipes,  decorated 
with  feathers.  They  stopped  abruptly  before  the 
two  Frenchmen,  and  stood  gazing    at  them   with 


1  The  Indian  villages,  under  the  names  of  Peouaria  (Peoria)  and  Moin- 
gouena,  are  represented  in  Marquette's  map  upon  a  river  corresponding  in 
position  with  the  Des  Moines  ;  though  the  distance  from  the  Wisconsin, 
as  given  by  him,  would  indicate  a  river  farther  north. 


1673.]  THE  ILLINOIS   INDIANS.  57 

attention,  without  speaking  a  word.  Marquette 
was  much  relieved  on  seeing  that  they  wore  French 
cloth,  whence  he  judged  that  they  must  be  friends 
and  allies.  He  broke  the  silence,  and  asked  them 
who  they  were  ;  whereupon  they  answered  that 
they  were  Illinois,  and  offered  the  pipe ;  which 
having  been  duly  smoked,  they  all  went  together 
to  the  village.  Here  the  chief  received  the  travel- 
lers after  a  singular  fashion,  meant  to  do  them 
honor.  He  stood  stark  naked  at  the  door  of  a 
large  wigwam,  holding  up  both  hands  as  if  to 
shield  his  eyes.  "  Frenchmen,  how  bright  the 
sun  shines  when  you  come  to  visit  us  !  All  our 
village  awaits  you ;  and  you  shall  enter  our  wig- 
wams in  peace."  So  saying,  he  led  them  into  his 
own;  which  was  crowded  to  suffo  cation  with,  sav- 
ages, staring  at  their  guests  in  silence.  Having 
smoked  with  the  chiefs  and  old  men,  they  were 
invited  to  visit  the  great  chief  of  all  the  Illinois,  at 
one  of  the  villages  they  had  seen  in  the  distance ; 
and  thither  they  proceeded,  followed  by  a  throng 
of  warriors,  squaws,  and  children.  On  arriving, 
they  were  forced  to  smoke  again,  and  listen  to  a 
speech  of  welcome  from  the  great  chief;  who  de- 
livered it,  standing  between  two  old  men,  naked 
like  himself.  His  lodge  was  crowded  with  the 
dignitaries  of  the  tribe  ;  whom  Marquette  addressed 
in  Algonquin,  announcing  himself  as  a  messenger 
sent  by  the  God  who  had  made  them,  and  whom  it 
behooved  them  to  recognize  and  obey.  He  added  a 
few  words  touching  the  power  and  glory  of  Count 
Frontenac,   and  concluded   by  asking   information 


58  THE   DISCOVERY  OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

concerning  the  Mississippi,  and  the  tribes  along  its 
banks,  whom  he  was  on  his  way  to  visit.  The 
chief  replied  with  a  speech  of  compliment,  —  assur- 
ing his  guests  that  their  presence  added  flavor  to 
his  tobacco,  made  the  river  more  calm,  the  sky 
more  serene,  and  the  earth  more  beautiful.  In 
conclusion,  he  gave  them  a  young  slave  and  a 
calumet,  begging  them  at  the  same  time  to  aban- 
don their  purpose  of  descending  the  Mississippi. 

A  feast  of  four  courses  now  followed.  First,  a 
wooden  bowl  full  of  a  porridge  of  Indian  meal 
boiled  with  grease  was  set  before  the  guests,  and 
the  master  of  ceremonies  fed  them  in  turn,  like  in- 
fants, with  a  large  spoon.  Then  appeared  a  plat- 
ter of  fish ;  and  the  same  functionary,  carefully  re- 
moving the  bones  with  his  fingers,  and  blowing  on 
the  morsels  to  cool  them,  placed  them  in  the 
mouths  of  the  two  Frenchmen.  A  large  dog,  kill- 
ed and  cooked  for  the  occasion,  was  next  placed 
before  them ;  but,  failing  to  tempt  their  fastidious 
appetites,  was  supplanted  by  a  dish  of  fat  buffalo- 
meat,  which  concluded  the  entertainment.  The 
crowd  having  dispersed,  buffalo-robes  were  spread 
on  the  ground,  and  Marquette  and  Joliet  spent  the 
night  on  the  scene  of  the  late  festivity.  In  the 
morning,  the  chief,  with  some  six  hundred  of  his 
tribesmen,  escorted  them  to  their  canoes,  and  bade 
them,  after  their  stolid  fashion,  a  friendly  farewell. 

Again  they  were  on  their  way,  slowly  drifting 
down  the  great  river.  They  passed  the  mouth  of 
the  Illinois,  and  glided  beneath  that  line  of  rocks 
on  the  eastern  side,  cut  into  fantastic  forms  by  the 


1673.]  THE  PAINTED  ROCKS.  59 

elements,  and  marked  as  "The  Ruined  Castles " 
on  some  of  the  early  French  maps.  Presently 
they  beheld  a  sight  which  reminded  them  that  the 
Devil  was  still  lord  paramount  of  this  wilderness. 
On  the  flat  face  of  a  high  rock,  were  painted  in 
red,  black,  and  green  a  pair  of  monsters,  —  each 
"  as  large  as  a  calf,  with  horns  like  a  deer,  red 
eyes,  a  beard  like  a  tiger,  and  a  frightful  expres- 
sion of  countenance.  The  face  is  something  like 
that  of  a  man,  the  body  covered  with  scales  ;  and 
the  tail  so  long  that  it  passes  entirely  round  the 
body,  over  the  head  and  between  the  legs,  ending 
like  that  of  a  fish."  Such  is  the  account  which  the 
worthy  Jesuit  gives  of  these  manitous,  or  Indian 
gods.1  He  confesses  that  at  first  they  frightened 
him ;  and  his  imagination  and  that  of  his  credulous 
companions  were  so  wrought  upon  by  these  unhal- 
lowed efforts  of  Indian  art,  that  they  continued  for 
a  long  time  to  talk  of  them  as  they  plied  their  pad- 
dles.    They  were  thus   engaged,  when  they   were 

1  The  rock  where  these  figures  were  painted  is  immediately  above  the 
city  of  Alton.  The  tradition  of  their  existence  remains,  though  they  are 
entirely  effaced  by  time.  In  1867,  when  I  passed  the  place,  a  part  of  the 
rock  had  been  quarried  away,  and,  instead  of  Marquette's  monsters,  it 
bore  a  huge  advertisement  of  "  Plantation  Bitters."  Some  years  ago, 
certain  persons,  with  more  zeal  than  knowledge,  proposed  to  restore  the 
figures,  after  conceptions  of  their  own  ;  but  the  idea  was  abandoned. 

Marquette  made  a  drawing  of  the  two  monsters,  but  it  is  lost.  I  have, 
however,  a  fac-simile  of  a  map  made  a  few  years  later  by  order  of  the 
Intendant  Duchesneau ;  which  is  decorated  with  the  portrait  of  one  of 
them,  answering  to  Marquette *s  description,  and  probably  copied  from  his 
drawing.  St.  Cosme,  who  saw  them  in  1699,  says  that  they  were  even 
then  almost  effaced.  Douay  and  Joutel  also  speak  of  them  ;  the  former, 
bitterly  hostile  to  his  Jesuit  contemporaries,  charging  Marquette  with 
exaggeration  in  his  account  of  them.  Joutel  could  see  nothing  terrifying 
in  their  appearance ;  but  he  says  that  his  Indians  made  sacrifices  to  them 
as  they  passed. 


i^k 


© 


60  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

suddenly  aroused  by  a  real  danger.  A  torrent  of 
yellow  mud  rushed  furiously  athwart  the  calm  blue 
current  of  the  Mississippi ;  boiling  and  surging,  and 
sweeping  in  its  course  logs,  branches,  and  uprooted 
trees.  They  had  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Mis- 
souri, where  that  savage  river,  descending  from  its 
mad  career  through  a  vast  unknown  of  barbarism, 
poured  its  turbid  floods  into  the  bosom  of  its  gen- 
tler sister.  Their  light  canoes  whirled  on  the  miry 
vortex  like  dry  leaves  on  an  angry  brook.  "  I 
never,"  writes  Marquette,  "  saw  any  thing  more  ter- 
rific ;  "  but  they  escaped  with  their  fright,  and  held 
their  way  down  the  turbulent  and  swollen  current 
of  the  now  united  rivers.1  They  passed  the  lonely 
forest  that  covered  the  site  of  the  destined  city  of 
St.  Louis,  and,  a  few  days  later,  saw  on  their  left 
the  mouth  of  the  stream  to  which  the  Iroquois  had 
given  the  well-merited  name  of  Ohio,  or,  the 
Beautiful  River.2  Soon  they  began  to  see  the 
marshy  shores  buried  in  a  dense  growth  of  the  cane, 
with  its  tall  straight  stems  and  feathery  light-green 
foliage.  The  sun  glowed  through  the  hazy  air 
with  a  languid  stifling  heat,  and,  by  day  and  night, 
mosquitoes  in  myriads  left  them  no  peace.  They 
floated  slowly  down    the  current,  crouched  in  the 


1  The  Missouri  is  called  Pekitanoiri  by  Marquette.  It  also  bears,  on 
early  French  maps,  the  names  of  Riviere  des  Osages,  and  Riviere  des 
Emissourites,  or  Oumessourits.  On  Marquette's  map,  a  tribe  of  this  name 
is  placed  near  its  banks,  just  above  the  Osages.  Judging  by  the  course  of 
the  Mississippi  that  it  discharged  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  he  conceived 
the  hope  of  one  day  reaching  the  South  Sea  by  way  of  the  Missouri. 

2  Called  on  Marquette's  map,  Ouabouskiaou.     On  some  of  the  earliest 
maps,  it  is  called  Ouabache  (Wabash). 


1673.]  THE   LOWER   MISSISSIPPI.  61 

shade  of  the  sails  which  they  had  spread  as  awn- 
ings, when  suddenly  they  saw  Indians  on  the  east 
bank.  The  surprise  was  mutual,  and  each  party 
was  as  much  frightened  as  the  other.  Marquette 
hastened  to  display  the  calumet  which  the  Illinois 
had  given  him  by  way  of  passport ;  and  the  Indians, 
recognizing  the  pacific  symbol,  replied  with  an  invi- 
tation to  land.  Evidently,  they  were  in  communica- 
tion with  Europeans,  for  they  were  armed  with  guns, 
knives,  and  hatchets,  wore  garments  of  cloth,  and 
carried  their  gunpowder  in  small  bottles  of  thick 
glass.  They  feasted  the  Frenchmen  with  buffalo- 
meat,  bear's  oil,  and  white  plums;  and  gave  them  a 
variety  of  doubtful  information,  including  the  agree- 
able but  delusive  assurance  that  they  would  reach 
the  mouth  of  the  river  in  ten  days.  It  was,  in  fact, 
more  than  a  thousand  miles  distant. 

They  resumed  their  course,  and  again  floated 
down  the  interminable  monotony  of  river,  marsh  and 
forest.  Day  after  day  passed  on  in  solitude,  and  they 
had  paddled  some  three  hundred  miles  since  their 
meeting  with  the  Indians;  when,  as  they  neared 
the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  they  saw  a  cluster  of 
wigwams  on  the  west  bank.  Their  inmates  were  all 
astir,  yelling  the  war-whoop,  snatching  their  weap- 
ons, and  running  to  the  shore  to  meet  the  strangers, 
who,  on  their  part,  called  for  succor  to  the  Virgin. 
In  truth  they  had  need  of  her  aid  ;  for  several  large 
wooden  canoes,  filled  with  savages,  were  putting 
out  from  the  shore,  above  and  below  them,  to  cut 
off  their  retreat,  while  a  swarm  of  headlong  young 
warriors  waded  into  the  water  to  attack  them.    The 

6 


62  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

current  proved  too  strong  ;  and,  failing  to  reach  the 
canoes  of  the  Frenchmen,  one  of  them  threw  his 
war-club,  which  flew  over  the  heads  of  the  startled 
travellers.  Meanwhile,  Marquette  had  not  ceased 
to  hold  up  his  calumet,  to  which  the  excited  crowd 
gave  no  heed,  but  strung  then-  bows  and  notched 
their  arrows  for  immediate  action  ;  when  at  length 
the  elders  of  the  village  arrived,  saw  the  peace- 
pipe,  restrained  the  ardor  of  the  youth,  and  urged 
the  Frenchmen  to  come  ashore.  Marquette  and 
his  companions  complied,  trembling,  and  found  a 
better  reception  than  they  had  reason  to  expect. 
One  of  the  Indians  spoke  a  little  Illinois,  and  served 
as  interpreter ;  a  friendly  conference  was  followed 
by  a  feast  of  sagamite  and  fish ;  and  the  travellers, 
not  without  sore  misgivings,  spent  the  night  in  the 
lodges  of  their  entertainers.1 

Early  in  the  morning,  they  embarked  again,  and 
proceeded  to  a  village  of  the  Arkansas  tribe,  about 
eight  leagues  below.  Notice  of  their  coming  was 
sent  before  them  by  their  late  hosts ;  and,  as  they 
drew  near,  they  were  met  by  a  canoe,  in  the  prow  of 
which  stood  a  naked  personage,  holding  a  calumet, 
singing,  and  making  gestures  of  friendship.  On 
reaching  the  village,  which  was  on  the  east  side,2 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  river  Arkansas,  they  were 
conducted  to  a  sort  of  scaffold  before  the  lodge  of 
the  war-chief.  The  space  beneath  had  been  pre- 
pared for  their  reception,  the  ground  being  neatly 

1  This  village,  called  Mitchigamea,  is  represented  on  several  contem- 
porary maps. 

2  A  few  years  later,  the  Arkansas  were  all  on  the  west  side. 


1673.]  THE   ARKANSAS.  63 

covered  with  rush  mats.  On  these  they  were 
seated ;  the  warriors  sat  around  them  in  a  semi- 
circle ;  then  the  elders  of  the  tribe ;  and  then  the 
promiscuous  crowd  of  villagers,  standing,  and  staring 
over  the  heads  of  the  more  dignified  members  of 
the  assembly. ,  All  the  men  were  naked ;  but,  to 
compensate  for  the  lack  of  clothing,  they  wore 
strings  of  beads  in  their  noses  and  ears.  The 
women  were  clothed  in  shabby  skins,  and  wore 
their  hair  clumped  in  a  mass  behind  each  ear.  By 
good  luck,  there  was  a  young  Indian  in  the  village, 
who  had  an  excellent  knowledge  of  Illinois  ;  and 
through  him  Marquette  endeavored  to  explain  the 
mysteries  of  Christianity,  and  to  gain  information 
concerning  the  river  below.  To  this  end  he  gave 
his  auditors  the  presents  indispensable  on  such 
occasions,  but  received  very  little  in  return.  They 
told  him  that  the  Mississippi  was  infested  by  hostile 
Indians,  armed  with  guns  procured  from  white 
men ;  and  that  they,  the  Arkansas,  stood  in  such 
fear  of  them  that  they  dared  not  hunt  the  buffalo, 
but  were  forced  to  live  on  Indian  corn,  of  which 
they  raised  three  crops  a  year. 

During  the  speeches  on  either  side,  food  was 
brought  in  without  ceasing ;  sometimes  a  platter  of 
sagamite  or  mush ;  sometimes  of  corn  boiled  whole  ; 
sometimes  a  roasted  dog.  The  villagers  had  large 
earthen  pots  and  platters,  made  by  themselves  with 
tolerable  skill,  —  as  well  as  hatchets,  knives,  and 
beads,  gained  by  traffic  with  the  Illinois  and  other 
tribes  in  contact  with  the  French  or  Spaniards.  All 
.  day  there  was  feasting  without  respite,   after  the 


64:  THE  DISCOVERY  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI.  [1673. 

merciless  practice  of  Indian  hospitality ;  but  at 
night  some  of  their  entertainers  proposed  to  kill 
and  plunder  them,  —  a  scheme  which  was  defeated 
by  the  vigilance  of  the  chief,  who  visited  their 
quarters,  and  danced  the  calumet  dance  to  reassure 
his  guests. 

The  travellers  now  held  counsel  as  to  what  course 
they  should  take.  They  had  gone  far  enough,  as 
they  thought,  to  establish  one  important  point,  — 
that  the  Mississippi  discharged  its  waters,  not  into 
the  Atlantic  or  sea  of  Virginia,  nor  into  the  Gulf  of 
California  or  Vermilion  Sea,  but  into  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  They  thought  themselves  nearer  to  its 
mouth  than  they  actually  were,  —  the  distance  being 
still  about  seven  hundred  miles  ;  and  they  feared 
that,  if  they  went  farther,  they  might  be  killed  by 
Indians  or  captured  by  Spaniards,  whereby  the  re- 
sults of  their  discovery  would  be  lost.  Therefore 
they  resolved  to  return  to  Canada,  and  report  what 
they  had  seen. 

They  left  the  Arkansas  village,  and  began  their 
homeward  voyage  on  the  seventeenth  of  July.  It 
was  no  easy  task  to  urge  their  way  upward,  in  the 
heat  of  midsummer,  against  the  current  of  the  dark 
and  gloomy  stream,  toiling  all  day  under  the  parch- 
ing sun,  and  sleeping  at  night  in  the  exhalations  of 
the  unwholesome  shore,  or  in  the  narrow  confines 
of  their  birchen  vessels,  anchored  on  the  river.  Mar- 
quette was  attacked  with  dysentery.  Languid  and 
well-nigh  spent,  he  invoked  his  celestial  mistress, 
as  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  they  won 
their  slow  way  northward.     At  length  they  reached 


1673.J  RETURN   TO   CANADA.  65 

the  Illinois,  and,  entering  its  mouth,  followed  its 
course,  charmed,  as  they  went,  with  its  placid 
waters,  its  shady  forests,  and  its  rich  plains,  grazed 
by  the  bison  and  the  deer.  They  stopped  at  a  spot 
soon  to  be  made  famous  in  the  annals  of  western 
discovery.  This  was  a  village  of  the  Illinois,  then 
called  Kaskaskia,  —  a  name  afterwards  transferred 
to  another  locality.1  A  chief,  with  a  band  of  young- 
warriors,  offered  to  guide  them  to  the  Lake  of  the 
Illinois ;  that  is  to  say,  Lake  Michigan.  Thither 
they  repaired ;  and,  coasting  its  shores,  reached 
Green  Bay  at  the  end  of  September,  after  an  ab- 
sence of  about  four  months,  during  which  they  had 
paddled  their  canoes  somewhat  more  than  two  thou- 
sand five  hundred  miles.2 

Marquette  remained,  to  recruit  his  exhausted 
strength ;  but  Joliet  descended  to  Quebec,  to  bear 
the   report   of  his   discovery  to  •Count  Frontenac. 


1  Marquette  says  that  it  consisted  at  this  time  of  seventy-four  lodges. 
These,  like  the  Huron  and  Iroquois  lodges,  contained  each  several  fires 
and  several  families.  This  village  was  about  seven  miles  below  the  site 
of  the  present  town  of  Ottawa. 

2  The  journal  of  Marquette,  first  published  in  an  imperfect  form  by 
Thevenot,  in  1681,  has  been  reprinted  by  Mr.  Lenox,  under  the  direction 
of  Mr.  Shea,  from  the  manuscript  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Cana- 
dian Jesuits.  It  will  also  be  found  in  Shea's  Discover!/  and  Exploration  of 
the  Mississippi  Valley,  and  the  Relations  Ine'dites,  of  Martin.  The  true  map 
of  Marquette  accompanies  all  these  publications.  The  map  published  by 
Thevenot  and  reproduced  by  Bancroft  is  not  Marquette's.  The  original 
of  this,  of  which  I  have  a  fac-siniile,  bears  the  title  Carte  de  la  Nouvette 
D&ouverte  que  les  Peres  Je'srutes  ont  fait  en  l'ann€e  1672,  et  contimie'e  par  le  Pere 
Jacques  Marquette,  etc.  The  return  route  of  the  expedition  is  incorrectly 
laid  down  on  it.  A  manuscript  map  of  the  Jesuit  Raffeix,  preserved  in 
the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale,  is  more  accurate  in  this  particular.  I  have 
also  another  contemporary  manuscript  map,  indicating  the  various  Jesuit 
stations  in  the  west  at  this  time,  and  representing  the  Mississippi,  as  dis- 
covered by  Marquette.     For  these  and  other  maps,  see  Appendix. 

6* 


66  THE  DISCOVERY  OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI.  [1674. 

Fortune  had  wonderfully  favored  him  on  his  long 
and  perilous  journey ;  but  now  she  abandoned  him 
on  the  very  threshold  of  home.  At  the  foot  of  the 
rapids  of  La  Chine,  and  immediately  above  Mon- 
treal, his  canoe  was  overset,  two  of  his  men  and  an 
Indian  boy  were  drowned,  all  his  papers  were  lost, 
and  he  himself  narrowly  escaped.3  In  a  letter  to 
Frontenac,  he  speaks  of  the  accident  as  follows : 
"  I  had  escaped  every  peril  from  the  Indians  ;  I 
had  passed  forty-two  rapids  ;  and  was  on  the  point 
of  disembarking,  full  of  joy  at  the  success  of  so 
long  and  difficult  an  enterprise,  —  when  my  canoe 
capsized,  after  all  the  danger  seemed  over.  I  lost 
two  men,  and  my  box  of  papers,  within  sight  of  the 
first  French  settlements,  which  I  had  left  almost 
two  years  before.  Nothing  remains  to  me  but  my 
life,  and  the  ardent  desire  to  employ  it  on  any  ser- 
vice wt'^h  you  may  please  to  direct."2 

1  Lettre  cle  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  Quebec,  14  Nov.  1674,  MS. 

2  This  letter  is  appended  to  Joliet's  smaller  map  of  his  discoveries. 
See  Appendix.  Joliet  applied  for  a  grant  of  the  countries  he  had  visited, 
but  failed  to  obtain  it,  because  the  king  wished  at  this  time  to  confine  the 
inhabitants  of  Canada  to  productive  industry  within  the  limits  of  the 
colony,  and  to  restrain  their  tendency  to  roam  into  the  western  wilder- 
ness. On  the  seventh  of  October,  1675,  Joliet  married  Claire  Bissot, 
daughter  of  a  wealthy  Canadian  merchant,  engaged  in  trade  with  the 
northern  Indians.  This  drew  Joliet's  attention  to  Hudson's  Bay,  and  he 
made  a  journey  thither  in  1679,  by  way  of  the  Saguenay.  He  found 
three  English  forts  on  the  bay,  occupied  by  about  sixty  men,  who  had 
al$o  an  armed  vessel  of  twelve  guns  and  several  small  trading-craft.  The 
English  held  out  great  inducements  to  Joliet  to  join  them ;  but  he  de- 
clined, and  returned  to  Quebec,  where  he  reported  that,  unless  these  for- 
midable rivals  were  dispossessed,  the  trade  of  Canada  would  be  ruined. 
In  consequence  of  this  report,  some  of  the  principal  merchants  of  the 
colony  formed  a  company  to  compete  with  the  English  in  the  trade  of 
Hudson's  Bay.  In  the  year  of  this  journey,  Joliet  received  a  grant  of  the 
islands  of  Mignan  ;  and  in  the  following  year,  1680,  he  received  another 


1674.]  MARQUETTE'S   MISSION.  67 

Marquette  spent  the  winter  and  the  following 
summer  at  the  mission  of  Green  Bay,  still  suffering 
from  his  malady.  In  the  autumn,  however,  it 
abated,  and  he  was  permitted  by  his  superior  to  at- 
tempt the  execution  of  a  plan  to  which  he  was  de- 
votedly attached,  —  the  founding,  at  the  principal 
town  of  the  Illinois,  of  a  mission  to  be  called  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  a  name  which  he  had 
already  given  to  the  river  Mississippi.  He  set  out 
on  this  errand  on  the  twenty-fifth  of  October,  ac- 
companied by  two  men,  named  Pierre  and  Jacques, 
one  of  whom  had  been  with  him  on  his  great  jour- 
ney of  discovery.  A  band  of  Pottawattamies  and 
another  band  of  Illinois  also  joined  him.  The 
united  parties  —  ten  canoes  in  all  —  followed  the 
east  shore  of  Green  Bay  as  far  as  the  inlet  then 
called  Sturgeon  Cove,  from  the  head  of  which  they 
crossed  by  a  difficult  portage  through  the  forest  to 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  November  had  come. 
The  bright  hues  of  the  autumn  foliage  were 
changed  to  rusty  brown.  The  shore  was  desolate, 
and  the  lake  was  stormy.     They  were  more  than  a 


grant,  of  the  great  island  of  Anticosti  in  the  lower  St.  Lawrence.  In  1681, 
he  was  established  here  with  his  wife  and  six  servants.  He  was  engaged 
in  fisheries ;  and,  being  a  skilful  navigator  and  surveyor,  he  made  about 
this  time  a  chart  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  In  1690,  Sir  William  Phips,  on 
his  way  with  an  English  fleet  to  attack  Quebec,  made  a  descent  on  Juliet's 
establishment,  burnt  his  buildings,  and  took  prisoners  his  wife  and  his 
mother-in-law.  In  1694,  Joliet  explored  the  coasts  of  Labrador  under  the 
auspices  of  a  company  formed  for  the  whale  and  seal  fishery.  On  his 
return,  Frontenac  made  him  royal  pilot  for  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and  at  about 
the  same  time  he  received  the  appointment  of  hydrographer  at  Quebec. 
He  died,  apparently  poor,  in  1699  or  1700,  and  was  buried  on  one  of  the 
islands  of  Mignan.  The  discovery  of  the  above  facts  is  due  in  great  part 
to  the  researches  of  Margry. 


68  THE   DISCOVERY  OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI.  [1674. 

month  in  coasting  its  western  border,  when  at  length 
they  reached  the  river  Chicago,  entered  it,  and  as- 
cended abont  two  leagues.  Marquette's  disease 
had  lately  returned,  and  hemorrhage  now  ensued. 
He  told  his  two  companions  that  this  journey 
would  be  his  last.  In  the  condition  in  which  he 
was,  it  was  impossible  to  go  farther.  The  two 
men  built  a  log-hut  .by  the  river,  and  here  they  pre- 
pared to  spend  the  winter,  while  Marquette,  feeble 
as  he  was,  began  the  spiritual  exercises  of  Saint 
Ignatius,  and  confessed  his  two  companions  twice  a 
week. 

Meadow,  marsh,  and  forest  were  sheeted  with 
snow,  but  game  was  abundant.  Pierre  and  Jacques 
killed  buffalo  and  deer  and  shot  wild  turkeys  close 
to  their  hut.  There  was  an  encampment  of  Illi- 
nois within  two  days' journey  ;  and  other  Indians, 
passing  by  this  well  known  thoroughfare,  occasion- 
ally visited  them,  treating  the  exiles  kindly,  and 
sometimes  bringing  them  game  and  Indian  corn. 
Eighteen  leagues  distant  was  the  camp  of  two  ad- 
venturous French  traders,  —  one  of  them  a  noted 
coureur  de  bois,  nicknamed  La  Taupine,1  and  the 
other  a  self-styled  surgeon.  They  also  visited  Mar- 
quette, and  befriended  him  to  the  best  of  their 
power. 

Urged  by  a  burning  desire  to  lay,  before  he  died, 
the  foundation  of  his  new  mission  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception,  Marquette  begged  his  two  follow- 

1  Pierre  Moreau,  alias  La  Taupine,  was  afterwards  bitterly  complained 
of  by  the  Intendant  Duchesneau  for  acting  as  the  Governor's  agent  in 
illicit  trade  with  the  Indians. 


1675.]  THE   MISSION  AT  KASKASKIA.  69 

ers  to  join  him  in  a  novena,  or  nine  days'  devotion 
to  the  Virgin.  In  consequence  of  this,  as  he  be- 
lieved, his  disease  relented ;  he  began  to  regain 
strength,  and,  in  March,  was  able  to  resume  the 
journey.  On  the  thirtieth  of  the  month,  they  left 
their  hut,  which  had  been  inundated  by  a  sudden 
rise  of  the  river,  and  carried  their  canoe  through 
mud  and  water  over  the  portage  which  led  to  the 
head  of  the  Des  Plaines.  Marquette  knew  the 
way,  for  he  had  passed  by  this  route  on  his  return 
from  the  Mississippi.  Amid  the  rains  of  opening 
spring,  they  floated  down  the  swollen  current  of  the 
Des  Plaines,  by  naked  woods,  and  spongy,  saturated 
prairies,  till  they  reached  its  junction  with  the  main 
stream  of  the  Illinois,  which  they  descended  to  their 
destination,  —  the  Indian  town  which  Marquette 
calls  Kaskaskia.  Here,  as  we  are  told,  he  was 
received  "  like  an  angel  from  Heaven."  He  passed 
from  wigwam  to  wigwam,  telling  the  listening 
crowds  of  God  and  the  Virgin,  Paradise  and  Hell, 
angels  and  demons  ;  and,  when  he  thought  their 
minds  prepared,  he  summoned  them  all  to  a  grand 
council. 

It  took  place  near  the  town,  on  the  great  meadow 
which  lies  between  the  river  and  the  modern  vil- 
lage of  Utica.  Here  five  hundred  .chiefs  and  old 
men  were  seated  in  a  ring ;  behind  stood  fifteen 
hundred  youths  and  warriors,  and  behind  these 
again  all  the  women  and  children  of  the  village. 
Marquette,  standing  in  the  midst,  displayed  four 
large  pictures  of  the  Virgin  ;  harangued  the  as- 
sembly on  the   mysteries    of   the    Faith,  and    ex- 


70  THE  DISCOVERY   OF   THE  MISSISSIPPI  [1675. 

horted  them  to  adopt  it.  The  temper  of  his  au- 
ditory met  his  utmost  wishes.  They  begged  him 
to  stay  among  them  and  continue  his  instructions  ; 
but  his  life  was  fast  ebbing  away,  and  it  behooved 
him  to  depart. 

A  few  days  after  Easter  he  left  the  village,  es- 
corted by  a  crowd  of  Indians,  who  followed  him  as 
far  as  Lake  Michigan.  Here  he  embarked  with 
his  two  companions.  Their  destination  was  Michil- 
limackinac,  and  their  course  lay  along  the  eastern 
borders  of  the  lake.  As,  in  the  freshness  of  advanc- 
ing spring,  Pierre  and  Jacques  urged  their  canoe 
along  that  lonely  and  savage  shore,  the  priest  lay 
with  dimmed  sight  and  prostrated  strength,  com- 
muning with  the  Virgin  and  the  angels.  On  the 
nineteenth  of  May  he  felt  that  his  hour  was  near ; 
and,  as  they  passed  the  mouth  of  a  small  river,  he 
requested  his  companions  to  land.  They  complied, 
built  a  shed  of  bark  on  a  rising  ground  near  the 
bank,  and  carried  thither  the  dying  Jesuit.  With 
perfect  cheerfulness  and  composure  he  gave  direc- 
tions for  his  burial,  asked  their  forgiveness  for  the 
trouble  he  had  caused  them,  administered  to  them 
the  sacrament  of  penitence,  and  thanked  God  that 
he  was  permitted  to  die  in  the  wilderness,  a  mis- 
sionary of  the  faith  and  a  member  of  the  Jesuit 
brotherhood.  At  night,  seeing  that  they  were  fa- 
tigued, he  told  them  to  take  rest,  —  saying  that  he 
would  call  them  when  he  felt  his  time  approaching. 
Two  or  three  hours  after,  they  heard  a  feeble  voice, 
and,  hastening  to  his  side,  found  him  at  the  point  of 
death.     He  expired  calmly,  murmuring  the  names 


1676-7.]  BURIAL  OF   MARQUETTE.  71 

of  Jesus  and  Mary,  with  his  eyes  fixed  on  the 
crucifix  which  one  of  his  followers  held  before 
him.  They  dug  a  grave  beside  the  hut,  and  here 
they  buried  him  according  to  the  directions  which 
he  had  given  them ;  then  re-embarking,  they  made 
their  way  to  Michillimackinac,  to  bear  the  tidings 
to  the  priests  at  the  mission  of  St.  Ignace.1 

In  the  winter  of  1676?  a  party  of  Kiskakon  Ot- 
tawas  were  hunting  on  Lake  Michigan :  and  when, 
in  the  following  spring,  they  prepared  to  return 
home,  they  bethought  them,  in  accordance  with  an 
Indian  custom,  of  taking  with  them  the  bones  of 
Marquette,  who  had  been  their  instructor  at  the 
mission  of  St.  Esprit.  They  repaired  to  the  spot, 
found  the  grave,  opened  it,  washed  and  dried  the 
bones  and  placed  them  carefully  in  a  box  of  birch- 
bark.  Then,  in  a  procession  of  thirty  canoes,  they 
bore  it,  singing  their  funeral  songs,  to  St.  Ignace  of 
Michillimackinac.  As  they  approached,  priests,  In- 
dians, and  traders  all  thronged  to  the  shore.  The 
relics  of  Marquette  were  received  with  solemn  cere- 
mony, and  buried  beneath  the  floor  of  the  little 
chapel  of  the  mission.2 

1  The  contemporary  Relation  tells  us  that  a  miracle  took  place  at  the 
burial  of  Marquette.  One  of  the  two  Frenchmen,  overcome  with  grief 
and  colic,  bethought  him  of  applying  a  little  earth  from  the  grave  to  the 
seat  of  pain.     This  at  once  restored  him  to  health  and  cheerfulness. 

2  For  Marquette's  death,  see  the  contemporary  Relation,  published  by 
Shea,  Lenox,  and  Martin,  with  the  accompanying  Lettre  et  Journal.  The 
river  where  he  died  is  a  small  stream  in  the  west  of  Michigan,  some  dis 
tance  south  of  the  promontory  called  the  "  Sleeping  Bear."  It  long  bore 
his  name,  which  is  now  borne  by  a  larger  neighboring  stream.  Charle- 
voix's account  of  Marquette's  death  is  derived  from  tradition,  and  is  not 
supported  by  the  contemporary  narrative.  The  voyageurs  on  Lake 
Michigan  long  continued  to  invoke  the  intercession  of  the  departed  mis- 
sionary in  time  of  danger. 


72  THE  DISCOVERY   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI.         [1677. 

In  1847,  the  missionary  of  the  Algonquins  at  the  Lake  of  Two  Moun- 
tains, above  Montreal,  wrote  down  a  tradition  of  the  death  of  Marquette, 
from  the  lips  of  an  old  Indian  woman,  born  in  1777,  at  Michillimackinac. 
Her  ancestress  had  been  baptized  by  the  subject  of  the  story.  The  tradi- 
tion has  a  resemblance  to  that  related  as  fact  by  Charlevoix.  The  old 
squaw  said  that  the  Jesuit  was  returning,  very  ill,  to  Michillimackinac, 
when  a  storm  forced  him  and  his  two  men  to  land  near  a  little  river.  Here 
he  told  them  that  he  should  die,  and  directed  them  to  ring  a  bell  over  his 
grave  and  plant  a  cross.  They  all  remained  four  days  at  the  spot ;  and, 
though  without  food,  the  men  felt  no  hunger.  On  the  night  of  the  fourth 
day  he  died,  and  the  men  buried  him  as  he  had  directed.  On  waking  in 
the  morning,  they  saw  a  sack  of  Indian  corn,  a  quantity  of  lard,  and  some 
biscuits,  miraculously  sent  to  them  in  accordance  with  the  promise  of 
Marquette,  who  had  told  them  that  they  should  have  food  enough  for 
their  journey  to  Michillimackinac.  At  the  same  instant,  the  stream  began 
to  rise,  and  in  a  few  moments  encircled  the  grave  of  the  Jesuit,  which 
formed,  thenceforth,  an  islet  in  the  waters.  The  tradition  adds,  that  an 
Indian  battle  afterwards  took  place  on  the  banks  of  this  stream,  between 
Christians  and  infidels  ;  and  that  the  former  gained  the  victory  in  conse- 
quence of  invoking  the  name  of  Marquette.  This  story  bears  the  attesta- 
tion of  the  priest  of  the  Two  Mountains,  that  it  is  a  literal  translation  of 
the  tradition,  as  recounted  by  the  old  woman. 

It  has  been  asserted  that  the  Illinois  country  was  visited  by  two  priests. 
some  time  before  the  visit  of  Marquette.  This  assertion  was  first  made 
by  M.  Noiseux,  late  Grand  Vicar  of  Quebec,  who  gives  no  authority  for 
it.  Not  the  slightest  indication  of  any  such  visit  appears  in  any  contem- 
porary document  or  map  thus  far  discovered.  The  contemporary  writers, 
down  to  the  time  of  Marquette  and  La  Salle,  all  speak  of  the  Illinois  as  an 
unknown  country.  The  entire  groundlessness  of  Noiseux's  assertion  is 
shown  by  Shea  in  a  paper  in  the  "  Weekly  Herald,"  of  New  York, 
April  21,  1855. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

1673-1678. 
LA  SALLE  AND  FRONTENAC. 

Objects  of  La  Salle.  —  His  Difficulties. —  Official  Corruption  in 
Canada.  —  The  Governor  of  Montreal.  —  Projects  of  Frontenac. 
—  Cataraqui.  —  Frontenac  on  Lake  Ontario. —  Fort  Frontenac.— 
Success  of  La  Salle. 

We  turn  from  the  humble  Marquette,  thanking 
God  with  his  last  breath  that  he  died  for  his  Order 
and  his  faith  ;  and  by  our  side  stands  the  masculine 
form  of  Cavelier  de  la  Salle.  Prodigious  was  the 
contrast  between  the  two  discoverers  :  the  one,  with 
clasped  hands  and  upturned  eyes,  seems  a  figure 
evoked  from  some  dim  legend  of  mediaeval  saint- 
ship  ;  the  other,  with  feet  firm  planted  on  the  hard 
earth,  breathes  the  self-relying  energies  of  modern 
practical  enterprise.  Nevertheless,  La  Salle  was  a 
man  wedded  to  ideas,  and  urged  by  the  steady  and 
considerate  enthusiasm,  which  is  the  life-spring  of 
heroic  natures.  Three  thoughts,  rapidly  developing 
in  his  mind,  were  mastering  him,  and  engendering 
an  invincible  purpose.  First,  he  would  achieve  that 
which  Champlain  had  vainly  attempted,  and  of 
which  our  own  generation  has  but  now  seen  the 


74  LA   SALLE  AND   FRONTE  [1673-8. 

accomplishment,  —  the  opening  of  a  passage  to 
India  and  China  across  the  American  continent. 
Next,  he  would  occupy  the  Great  West,  develop  its 
commercial  resources,,  and  anticipate  the  Spaniards 
and  the  English  in  the  possession  of  it.  Thirdly,  — 
for  he  soon  became  convinced  that  the  Mississippi 
discharged  itself  into  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  —  he 
would  establish  a  fortified  post  at  its  mouth,  thus 
securing  an  outlet  for  the  trade  of  the  interior, 
checking  the  progress  of  the  Spaniards,  and  form- 
ing a  base,  whence,  in  time  of  war.  their  northern 
provinces  could  be  invaded  and  conquered. 

Here  were  vast  projects,  projects  perhaps  be- 
yond the  scope  of  private  enterprise,  conceived  and 
nursed  in  the  brain  of  a  penniless  young  man.  Twi  > 
conditions  were  indispensable  to  their  achievement. 
The  first  was  the  countenance  of  the  Canadian  au- 
thorities, and  the  second  was  money.  There  was 
but  one  mode  of  securing  either,  to  appeal  to  the 
love  of  gain  of  those  who  could  aid  the  enterprise. 
Count  Frontenac  had  no  money  to  give  ;  but  he 
had  what  was  no  less  to  the  purpose,  the  resources 
of  an  arbitrary  power,  which  he  was  always  ready 
to  use  to  the  utmost.  From  the  manner  in  which 
he  mentions  La  Salle  in  his  despatches,  it  seems 
that  the  latter  succeeded  in  gaining  his  con- 
fidence very  soon  after  he  entered  upon  his  govern- 
ment. There  was  a  certain  similarity  between  the 
two  men.  Both  were  able,  resolute,  and  enterpris- 
ing. The  irascible  and  fiery  pride  of  the  noble 
found  its  match  in  the  reserved  and  seemingly  cold 
pride  of  the  ambitious  young  burgher.     Their  tem- 


y 


1673-8.]  SCHEMES   OF  LA  SALLE.  75 

peraments  were  different,  but  the  bases  of  their 
characters  were  alike,  and  each*  could  perfectly 
comprehend  the  other.  They  had,  moreover,  strong 
prejudices  and  dislikes  in  common.  With  his 
ruined  fortune,  his  habits  of  expenditure,  the  exi- 
gent demands  of'  his  rank  and  station,  and  the 
wretched  pittance  which  he  received  from  the  king 
of  three  thousand  francs  a  year,  Frontenac  was  not 
the  man  to  let  slip  any  reasonable  opportunity  of 
bettering  his  condition.1  La  Salle  seems  to  have 
laid  his  plans  before  him  as  far  as  he  had  at  this 
time  formed  them,  and  a  complete  understanding 
was  established  between  them.  Here  was  a  great 
point  gained.  The  head  of  the  colony  was  on  his 
side.  It  remained  to  raise  money,  and  this  was  a 
harder  task.  La  Salle's  relations  were  rich,  evi- 
dently proud  of  him,  and  anxious  for  his  advance- 
ment. As  his  schemes  developed,  they  supplied 
him  with  means  to  pursue  them,  and  one  of  them 
in  particular,  his  cousin  Francois  Plet,  became 
largely  interested  in  his  enterprises.2  Believing 
that  his  projects,  if  carried  into  effect,  would  prove  a 
source  of  immense  wealth  to  all  concerned  in  them, 
and  gifted  with  a  rare  power  of  persuasion  when 
he  chose  to  use  it,  La  Salle  addressed  himself  to 
various  merchants  and  officials  of  the  colony,  and 
induced  some  of  them  to  become  partners  in  his 

1  That  lie  engaged  in  the  fur-trade,  was  notorious.  In  a  letter  to  the 
Minister  Seignelay,  13  Oct.  1G81,  Duchesneau,  Intendant  of  Canada,  de- 
clares that  Frontenac  used  all  the  authority  of  his  office  to  favor  those  in- 
terested in  trade  with  him,  and  that  he  would  favor  nobody  else.  The 
Intendant  himself  had  a  rival  interest  in  the  same  trade. 

2  Papiers  de  Famille,  MSS. 


76  LA  SALLE  AND  FRONTENAC.  [1673-8 

adventure.  But  here  we  are  anticipating.  Clearly 
to  understand  his  position,  we  must  revert  to  the 
first  year  of  Frontenac's  government. 

No  sooner  had  that  astute  official  set  foot  in  the 
colony  than,  with  an  eagle  eye,  he  surveyed  the  sit- 
uation, and  quickly  comprehended  it.  It  was  some- 
what peculiar.  Canada  lived  on  the  fur-trade,  a 
species  of  commerce  always  liable  to  disorders,  and 
which  had  produced,  among  other  results,  a  lawless 
body  of  men  known  as  coureurs  de  bols,  who  followed 
the  Indians  in  their  wanderings,  and  sometimes  be- 
came as  barbarous'as  then  red  associates.  The  order- 
loving  king  who  swayed  the  destinies  of  France, 
taking  umbrage  at  these  irregularities,  had  issued 
mandates  intended  to  repress  the  evil,  by  prohibit- 
ing the  inhabitants  of  Canada  from  leaving  the 
limits  of  the  settled  country ;  and  requiring  the 
trade  to  be  carried  on,  not  in  the  distant  wilderness, 
but  within  the  bounds  of  the  colony.  The  civil  and 
military  officers  of  the  crown,  charged  with  the  exe- 
cution of  these  ordinances,  showed  a  sufficient  zeal 
in  enforcing  them  against  others,  while  they  them- 
selves habitually  violated  them ;  hence,  a  singular 
confusion,  with  abundant  outcries,  complaint,  and 
recrimination.  Prominent  among  these  officials  was 
Perrot,  Governor  of  Montreal,  who  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  Xicolas  Perrot,  the  voyagenr.  The 
Governor  of  Montreal,  though  subordinate  to  the 
Governor-General,  held  great  and  arbitrary  power 
within  his  own  jurisdiction.  Perrot  had  married 
a  niece  of  Talon,  the  late  Intendant,  to  whose 
influence   he   owed   his  place.      Confiding  in  this 


1671-3.]    PERROT,  GOVERNOR  OE  MONTREAL.       77 

powerful  protection,  he  gave  free  rein  to  his  head- 
strong temper,  and  carried  his  government  with  a 
high  hand,  berating  and  abusing  anybody  who  ven- 
tured to  remonstrate.  The  grave  fathers  of  St. 
Sulpice,  owners  of  Montreal,  were  the  more  scan- 
dalized at  the  behavior  of  their  military  chief,  by 
reason  of  a  certain  burlesque  and  gasconading  vein 
which  often  appeared  in  him,  and  which  they  re- 
garded as  unseemly  levity.1 

Perrot,  through  his  wife's  uncle,  had  obtained  a 
grant  of  the  Island  above  Montreal,  which  still  bears 
his  name.  Here  he  established  a  trading  house 
which  he  placed  in  charge  of  an  agent,  one  Brucy, 
who,  by  a  tempting  display  of  merchandise  and 
liquors,  intercepted  the  Indians  on  their  yearly  de- 
scent to  trade  with  the  French,  and  thus  got  posses- 
sion of  their  furs,  in  anticipation  of  the  market  of 
Montreal.  Not  satisfied  with  this,  Perrot,  in  de- 
fiance of  the  royal  order,  sent  men  into  the  woods  to 
trade  with  the  Indians  in  their  villages,  and  it  is 
said  even  used  his  soldiers  for  this  purpose,  under 
cover  of  pretended  desertion.2  The  rage  of  the 
merchants  of  Montreal  may  readily  be  conceived, 
and  when  Frontenac  heard  of  the  behavior  of  his 
subordinate  he  was  duly  incensed. 

It  seems,  however,  to  have  occurred,  or  to  have 
been  suggested  to  him,  that  he,  the  Governor-Geri- 

1  Perrot  received  his  appointment  from  the  Seminary  of  St.  Sulpice, 
on  Talon's  recommendation,  but  he  afterwards  applied  for  and  gained  a 
royal  commission,  which,  as  he  thought,  made  him  independent  of  the 
priests. 

2  The  original  papers  relating  to  the  accusations  against  Perrot  are 
still  preserved  in  the  ancient  records  of  Montreal. 

7* 


78  LA   SALLE   AND   FKONTENAC.  [1673. 

eral  might  repeat  the  device  of  Perrot  on  a  larger 
scale  and  with  more  profitable  results.  By  estab- 
lishing a  fortified  trading  post  on  Lake  Ontario,  the 
whole  trade  of  the  upper  country  might  be  en- 
grossed, with  the  exception  of  that  portion  of  it 
which  descended  by  the  river  Ottawa,  and  even 
this  might  in  good  part  be  diverted  from  its  former 
channel.  At  the  same  time,  a  plan  of  a  fort  on 
Lake  Ontario  might  be  made  to  appear  as  of  great 
importance  to  the  welfare  of  the  colony ;  and  in 
fact,  from  one  point  of  view,  it  actually  was  so. 
Courcelles,  the  late  governor,  had  already  pointed 
out  its  advantages.  Such  a  fort  would  watch  and 
hold  in  check  the  Iroquois,  the  worst  enemy  of 
Canada  ;  and,  with  the  aid  of  a  few  small  vessels, 
it  would  intercept  the  trade  which  the  upper  In- 
dians were  carrying  on  through  the  Iroquois  coun- 
try with  the  English  and  Dutch  of  New  York. 
Frontenac  learned  from  La  Salle  that  the  English 
were  intriguing  both  with  the  Iroquois  and  with 
the  tribes  of  the  Upper  Lakes,  to  induce  them  to 
break  the  peace  with  the  French,  and  bring  their 
.furs  to  New  York.1  Hence  the  advantages,  not 
to  say  the  necessity,  of  a  fort  on  Lake  Ontario 
were  obvious.  But,  while  it  would  turn  a  stream 
of  wealth  from  the  English  to  the  French  colony, 
it  was  equally  clear  that  the  change  might  be 
made  to  inure,  not  to  the  profit  of  Canada  at 
large,  but  solely  to  that  of  those  who  had  con- 
trol of  the  fort ;  or,  in  other  words,  that  the  new 

1  Lettre  de  Frontenac  a  Colbert,  13  Nov.  1673. 


1673.]  EXPEDITION   OF  FRONTENAC.  79 

establishment  might  become  an  instrument  of  a 
grievous  monopoly.  This  Frontenac  and  La  Salle 
well  understood,  and  there  can  be  no  reasonable 
doubt  that  they  aimed  at  securing  such  a  mono- 
poly :  but  the  merchants  of  Canada  understood 
it,  also ;  and  hence  they  regarded  with  distrust 
any  scheme  of  a  fort  on  Lake  Ontario. 

Frontenac,  therefore,  thought  it  expedient  "  to 
make  use,"  as  he  expresses  it,  "  of  address."  He 
gave  out  merely  that  he  intended  to  make  a  tour 
through  the  upper  parts  of  the  colony  with  an 
armed  force,  in  order  to  inspire  the  Indians  with 
respect,  and  secure  a  solid  peace.  He  had  neither 
troops,  money,  munitions,  nor  means  of  transporta- 
tion ;  yet  there  was  no  time  to  lose,  for  should  he 
delay  the  execution  of  his  plan  it  might  be  counter- 
manded by  the  king.  His  only  resource,  therefore, 
was  in  a  prompt  and  hardy  exertion  of  the  royal 
authority  ;  and  he  issued  an  order  requiring  the 
inhabitants  of  Quebec,  Montreal,  Three  Rivers,  and 
other  settlements  to  furnish  him,  at  their  own  cost, 
as  soon  as  the  spring  sowing  should  be  over,  with  a 
certain  number  of  armed  men  besides  the  requisite 
canoes.  At  the  same  time,  he  invited  the  officers 
settled  in  the  country  to  join  the  expedition,  an  in- 
vitation which,  anxious  as  they  were  to  gain  his 
good  graces,  few  of  them  cared  to  decline.  Regard- 
less of  murmurs  and  discontent,  he  pushed  his  prep- 
aration vigorously,  and  on  the  third  of  June  left 
Quebec  with  his  guard,  his  staff,  a  part  of  the 
garrison  of  the  Castle  of  St.  Louis,  and  a  number 
of  volunteers.     He  had   already  sent  to  La  Salle, 


80  LA  SALLE  AND  FRONTENAC.  [1673. 

who  was  then  at  Montreal,  directing  him  to  repair 
to  Onondaga,  the  political  centre  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
invite  their  sachems  to  meet  the  Governor  in  coun- 
cil at  the  Bay  of  Quinte  on  the  north  of  Lake  On- 
tario. La  Salle  had  set  out  on  his  mission,  but  first 
sent  Frontenac  a  map,  which  convinced  him  that 
the  best  site  for  his  proposed  fort  was  the  mouth 
of  the  Cataraqui,  where  Kingston  now  stands. 
Another  messenger  was  accordingly  despatched,  to 
change  the  rendezvous  to  this   point. 

Meanwhile,  the  Governor  proceeded,  at  his  lei- 
sure, towards  Montreal,  stopping  by  the  way  to  visit 
the  officers  settled  along  the  bank,  who,  eager  to 
pay  their  homage  to  the  newly  risen  sun,  received 
him  with  a  hospitality,  which,  under  the  roof 
of  a  log  hut,  was  sometimes  graced  by  the 
polished  courtesies  of  the  salon  and  the  boudoir. 
Reaching  Montreal,  which  he  had  never  before 
seen,  he  gazed  we  may  suppose  with  some  inter- 
est at  the  long  row  of  humble  dwellings  which 
lined  the  bank,  the  massive  buildings  of  the  semi- 
nary, and  the  spire  of  the  church  predominant 
over  all.  It  was  a  rude  scene,  but  the  greeting 
that  awaited  him  savored  nothing  of  the  rough 
simplicity  of  the  wilderness.  Perrot,  the  local 
governor,  was  on  the  shore  with  his  soldiers  and 
the  inhabitants,  drawn  up  under  arms,  and  firing 
a  salute,  to  welcome  the  representative  of  the 
king.  Frontenac  was  compelled  to  listen  to  a  long 
harangue  from  the  Judge  of  the  place,  followed  by 
another  from  the  Syndic.  Then  there  was  a  sol- 
emn   procession    to    the    church,   where   he    was 


1673.]  FRONTENAC'S  JOURNEY.  81 

forced  to  undergo  a  third  effort  of  oratory  from  one 
of  the  priests.  Te  Deum  followed,  in  thanks  for 
his  arrival,  and  then  he  took  refuge  in  the  fort. 
Here  he  remained  thirteen  days,  busied  with  his 
preparations,  organizing  the  militia,  soothing  their 
mutual  jealousies,  and  settling  knotty  questions  of 
rank  and  precedence.  During  this  time  every 
means,  as  he  declares,  was  used  to  prevent  him 
from  proceeding,  and  among  other  devices  a  rumor 
was  set  on  foot  that  a  Dutch  fleet,  having  just  cap- 
tured Boston,  was  on  its  way  to  attack  Quebec.1 

Having  sent  men,  canoes,  and  baggage,  by  land, 
to  La  Salle's  old  settlement  of  La  Chine,  Frontenac 
himself  followed  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  June. 
He  now  had  with  him  about  four  hundred  men, 
including  Indians  from  the  missions,  and  a  hundred 
and  twenty  canoes,  besides  two  large  flatboats, 
which  he  caused  to  be  painted  in  red  and  blue, 
with  strange  devices,  intended  to  dazzle  the  Iro- 
quois by  a  display  of  unwonted  splendor.  Now 
their  hard  task  began.  Shouldering  canoes  through 
the  forest,  dragging  the  flatboats  along  the  shore, 
working  like  beavers,  sometimes  in  water  to  the 
knees,  sometimes  to  the  armpits,  their  feet  cut  by 
the  sharp  stones,  and  they  themselves  well  nigh 
swept  down  by  the  furious  current,  they  fought 
their  way  upward  against  the  chain  of  mighty  rap- 
ids that  break  the  navigation  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

1  Lettre  de  Frontenac  &  Colbert,  13  Nov.  1673,  MS.  This  rumor,  it  ap- 
pears, originated  with  the  Jesuit  Dablon. — Journal  du  Voyage  du  Comte 
de  Frontenac  au  Lac  Ontario.  MS.  The  Jesuits  were  greatly  opposed  to 
the  establishment  of  forts  and  trading  posts  in  the  upper  country,  for 
reasons  that  will  appear  hereafter. 


82  LA  SALLE  AND  ERONTENAC.  [1673. 

The  Indians  were  of  the  greatest  service.  Fronte- 
nac,  like  La  Salle,  showed  from  the  first  a  special 
faculty  of  managing  them;  for  his  keen,  incisive 
spirit  was  exactly  to  their  liking,  and  they  worked 
for  him  as  they  would  have  worked  for  no  man 
else.  As  they  approached  the  Long  Saut,  rain  fell 
in  torrents,  and  the  Governor,  without  his  cloak, 
and  drenched  to  the  skin,  directed  in  person  the 
amphibious  toil  of  his  followers.  Once,  it  is  said, 
he  lay  awake  all  night,  in  his  anxiety  lest  the  bis- 
cuit should  be  wet,  which  would  have  ruined  the 
expedition.  No  such  mischance  took  place,  and  at 
length  the  last  rapid  was  passed,  and  smooth  water 
awaited  them  to  their  journey's  end.  Soon  they 
reached  the  Thousand  Islands,  and  their  light  flotil- 
la glided  in  long  file  among  those  watery  labyrinths, 
by  rocky  islets,  where  some  lonely  pine  towered 
like  a  mast  against  the  sky;  by  sun-scorched  crags, 
where  the  brown  lichens  crisped  in  the  parching 
glare  ;  by  deep  dells,  shady  and  cool,  rich  in  rank 
ferns,  and  spongy,  dark  green  mosses  ;  by  still  coves, 
where  the  water-lilies  lay  like  snow-flakes  on  their 
broad,  flat  leaves ;  till  at  length  they  neared  then- 
goal,  and  the  glistening  bosom  of  Lake  Ontario 
opened  on  their  sight. 

Frontenac,  to  impose  respect  on  the  Iroquois, 
now  set  his  canoes  in  order  of  battle.  Four 
divisions  formed  the  first  line,  then  came  the  two 
flatboats ;  he  himself,  with  his  guards,  his  staff, 
and  the  gentlemen  volunteers,  followed,  with  the 
canoes  of  Three  Rivers  on  his  right,  and  those  of 
the  Indians  on  his  left,  while  two  remaining  divi- 


1673.]  FRONTENAC  AT   CATARAQUI.  83 

sions  formed  a  rear  line.  Thus,  with  measured 
paddles,  they  advanced  over  the  still  lake,  till  they 
saw  a  canoe  approaching  to  meet  them.  It  bore 
several  Iroquois  chiefs,  who  told  them  that  the 
dignitaries  of  their  nation  awaited  them  at  Catara- 
qui,  and  offered  to  guide  them  to  the  spot.  They 
entered  the  wide  mouth  of  the  river,  and  passed 
along  the  shore,  now  covered  by  the  quiet  little  city 
of  Kingston,  till  they  reached  the  point  at  present 
occupied  by  the  barracks,  at  the  western  end  of 
Cataraqui  bridge.  Here  they  stranded  their  ca- 
noes and  disembarked.  Baggage  was  landed,  fires 
lighted,  tents  pitched,  and  guards  set.  Close  at 
hand,  under  the  lee  of  the  forest,  were  the  camping 
sheds  of  the  Iroquois,  who  had  come  to  the  rendez- 
vous in  considerable  numbers. 

At  daybreak  of  the  next  morning,  the  thirteenth 
of  July,  the  drums  beat,  and  the  whole  party  were 
drawn  up  under  arms.  A  double  line  of  men  ex- 
tended from  the  front  of  Frontenac's  tent  to  the 
Indian  camp,  and  through  the  lane  thus  formed, 
the  savage  deputies,  sixty  in  number,  advanced  to 
the  place  of  council.  They  could  not  hide  their 
admiration  at  the  martial  array  of  the  French,  many 
of  whom  were  old  soldiers  of  the  Regiment  of 
Carignan,  and  when  they  reached  the  tent,  they 
ejaculated  their  astonishment  at  the  uniforms  of 
the  Governor's  guard  who  surrounded  it.  Here  the 
ground  had  been  carpeted  with  the  sails  of  the  flat- 
boats,  on  which  the  deputies  squatted  themselves 
in  a  ring  and  smoked  their  pipes  for  a  time  with 
their  usual  air  of  deliberate  gravity,  while  Fronte- 


84  LA  SALLE   AND   FRONTENAC.  [1673. 

nac,  who  sat  surrounded  by  his  officers,  had  full 
leisure  to  contemplate  the  formidable  adversaries 
whose  mettle  was  hereafter  to  put  his  own  to  so 
severe  a  test.  A  chief  named  Garakontie,  a  noted 
friend  of  the  French,  at  length  opened  the  council, 
in  behalf  of  all  the  five  Iroquois  nations,  with  ex- 
pressions of  great  respect  and  deference  towards 
"  Onontio  "  ;  that  is  to  say,  the  Governor  of  Cana- 
da. Whereupon  Frontenac,  whose  native  arro- 
gance, where  Indians  were  concerned,  always  took 
a  form  which  imposed  respect  without  exciting 
anger,  replied  in  the  following  strain :  — 

"Children!  Mohawks,  Oneidas,  Onondagas, 
Cayugas,  and  Senecas.  I  am  glad  to  see  you  here, 
where  I  have  had  a  fire  lighted  for  you  to  smoke 
by,  and  for  me  to  talk  to  you.  You  have  done  well, 
my  children,  to  obey  the  command  of  your  Father. 
Take  courage ;  you  will  hear  his  word,  which  is 
full  of  peace  and  tenderness.  For  do  not  think 
that  I  have  come  for  war.  My  mind  is  full  of 
peace,  and  she  walks  by  my  side.  Courage,  then, 
children,  and  take  rest." 

With  that,  he  gave  them  six  fathoms  of  tobacco, 
reiterated  his  assurances  of  friendship,  promised 
that  he  would  be  a  kind  father  so  long  as  they 
should  be  obedient  children,  regretted  that  he  was 
forced  to  speak  through  an  interpreter,  and  ended 
with  a  gift  of  guns  to  the  men,  and  prunes  and 
raisins  to  their  wives  and  children.  Here  closed 
this  preliminary  meeting,  the  great  council  being 
postponed  to  another  day. 

During  the  meeting,  Raudin,  Frontenac's  engi- 


1673.]  FRONTENAC  AND   THE  INDIANS.  85 

neer,  was  tracing  out  the  lines  of  a  fort,  after  a 
predetermined  plan,  and  the  whole  party,  under 
the  direction  of  their  officers,  now  set  themselves 
to  construct  it.  Some  cut  down  trees,  some  dug 
the  trenches,  some  hewed  the  palisades  ;  and  with 
such  order  and  alacrity  was  the  work  urged  on, 
that  the  Indians  were  lost  in  astonishment.  Mean- 
while, Frontenac  spared  no  pains  to  make  friends 
of  the  chiefs,  some  of  whom  he  had  constantly  at 
his  table.  He  fondled  the  Iroquois  children,  and 
gave  them  bread  and  sweetmeats,  and,  in  the  even- 
ing, feasted  the  squaws,  to  make  them  dance.  The 
Indians  were  delighted  with  these  attentions,  and 
conceived  a  high  opinion  of  the  new  Onontio. 

On  the  seventeenth,  when  the  construction  of  the 
fort  was  well  advanced,  Frontenac  called  the  chiefs 
to  a  grand  council,  which  was  held  with  all  possi- 
ble state  and  ceremony.  His  dealing  with  the 
Indians,  on  this  and  other  occasions,  was  truly  ad- 
mirable. Unacquainted  as  he  was  with  them,  he 
seems  to  have  had  an  instinctive  perception  of  the 
treatment  they  required.  His  predecessors  had 
never  ventured  to  address  the  Iroquois  as  "  Chil- 
dren," but  had  always  styled  them  "  Brothers  "  ; 
and  yet  the  assumption  of  paternal  authority  on  the 
part  of  Frontenac  was  not  only  taken  in  good  part, 
but  was  received  with  apparent  gratitude.  The 
martial  nature  of  the  man,  his  clear  decisive  speech, 
and  his  frank  and  downright  manner,  backed  as 
they  were  by  a  display  of  force  which  in  their 
eyes  was  formidable,  struck  them  with  admiration, 
and  gave  tenfold  effect  to  his  words  of  kindness. 

8 


86  LA   SALLE  AND   FRONTENAC.  [1673. 

They  thanked  him  for  that  which  from  another  they 
would  not  have  endured. 

Frontenac  began  by  again  expressing  his  satisfac- 
tion that  they  had  obeyed  the  commands  of  their 
Father,  and  come  to  Cataraqui  to  hear  what  he  had 
to  say.  Then  he  exhorted  them  to  embrace  Christi- 
anity ;  and  on  this  theme  he  dwelt  at  length,  in 
I  words  excellently  adapted  to  produce  the  desired 
J  effect ;  words  which  it  would  be  most  superfluous  to 
tax  as  insincere,  though,  doubtless,  they  lost  noth- 
ing in  emphasis,  because  in  this  instance  con- 
science and  policy  aimed  alike.  Then,  changing 
his  tone,  he  pointed  to  his  officers,  his  guard,  the 
long  files  of  the  militia,  and  the  two  flatboats, 
mounted  with  cannon,  which  lay  in  the  river  near 
by.  "  If,"  he  said,  "  your  Father  can  come  so  far, 
with  so  great  a  force,  through  such  dangerous  rap- 
ids, merely  to  make  you  a  visit  of  pleasure  and 
friendship,  what  would  he  do,  if  you  should  awaken 
his  anger,  and  make  it  necessary  for  him  to  punish 
his  disobedient  children'?  He  is  the  arbiter  of 
peace  and  war.  Beware  how  you  offend  him." 
And  he  warned  them  not  to  molest  the  Indian 
allies  of  the  French,  telling  them,  sharply,  that  he 
would  chastise  them  for  the  least  infraction  of  the 
peace. 

From  threats  he  passed  to  blandishments,  and 
urged  them  to  confide  in  his  paternal  kindness,  say- 
ing that,  in  proof  of  his  affection,  he  was  building  a 
storehouse  at  Cataraqui,  where  they  could  be  sup- 
plied with  all  the  goods  they  needed,  without  the 
necessity  of  a  long  and  dangerous  journey.      He 


1673.]  TREATY  WITH  THE   INDIANS.  87 

warned  them  against  listening  to  bad  men,  who 
might  seek  to  delude  them  by  misrepresentations 
and  falsehoods  ;  and  he  urged  them  to  give  heed  to 
none  but  "  men  of  character,  like  the  Sieur  de  la 
Salle."  He  expressed  a  hope  that  they  would  suffer 
their  children  to  learn  French  from  the  missionaries, 
in  order  that  they  and  his  nephews  —  meaning  the 
French  colonists  —  might  become  one  people  ;  and 
he  concluded  by  requesting  them  to  give  him  a 
number  of  their  children  to  be  educated  in  the 
French  manner,  at  Quebec. 

This  speech,  every  clause  of  which  was  rein- 
forced by  abundant  presents,  was  extremely  well 
received  ;  though  one  speaker  reminded  him  that  he 
had  forgotten  one  important  point,  inasmuch  as  he 
had  not  told  them  at  what  prices  they  could  obtain 
goods  at  Cataraqui.  Frontenac  evaded  a  precise 
answer,  but  promised  them  that  the  goods  should  be 
as  cheap  as  possible,  in  view  of  the  great  difficulty 
of  transportation.  As  to  the  request  concerning 
their  children,  they  said  that  they  could  not  accede 
to  it  till  they  had  talked  the  matter  over  in  their 
villages  ;  but  it  is  a  striking  proof  of  the  influ- 
ence which  Frontenac  had  gained  over  them,  that,  in 
the  following  year,  they  actually  sent  several  of 
their  children  to  Quebec  to  be  educated,  the  girls 
among  the  Ursulines,  and  the  boys  in  the  household 
of  the  Governor. 

Three  days  after  the  council,  the  Iroquois  set  out 
on  their  return ;  and,  as  the  palisades  of  the  fort 
were  now  finished,  and  the  barracks  nearly  so,  Fron- 
tenac began  to  send  his  party  homeward  by  detach- 


88  LA  SALLE   AND   FRONTENAC.  [1673. 

merits.  He  himself  was  detained,  for  a  time,  by 
the  arrival  of  another  band  of  Iroquois,  from  the 
villages  on  the  north  side  of  Lake  Ontario.  He 
repeated  to  them  the  speech  he  had  made  to  the 
others  ;  and,  this  final  meeting  over,  embarked  with 
his  guard,  leaving  a  sufficient  number  to  hold  the 
fort,  which  was  to  be  provisioned  for  a  year  by 
means  of  a  convoy,  then  on  its  way  up  the  river. 
Passing  the  rapids  safely,  he  reached  Montreal  on 
the  first  of  August. 

His  enterprise  had  been  a  complete  success.  He 
had  gained  every  point,  and,  in  spite  of  the  danger- 
ous navigation,  had  not  lost  a  single  canoe.  Thanks 
to  the  enforced  and  gratuitous  assistance  of  the  in- 
habitants, the  whole  had  cost  the  king  only  about 
ten  thousand  francs,  which  Frontenac  had  advanced 
on  his  own  credit.  Though,  in  a  commercial  point 
of  view,  the  new  establishment  was  of  very  ques- 
tionable benefit  to  the  colony  at  large,  the  Governor 
had,  nevertheless,  conferred  an  inestimable  blessing 
on  all  Canada,  by  the  assurance  he  had  gained  of  a 
long  respite  from  the  fearful  scourge  of  Iroquois 
hostility.  "Assuredly,"  he  writes,  "  I  may  boast  of 
having  impressed  them  at  once  with  respect,  fear, 
and  good-will."  x  He  adds,  that  the  fort  at  Catara- 
qui,  with  the  aid  of  a  vessel,  now  building,  will  com- 
mand Lake  Ontario,  keep  the  peace  with  the 
Iroquois,  and  cut  off  the  trade  with  the  English. 
And  he  proceeds  to  say,  that,  by  another  fort  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Niagara,  and  another  vessel  on  Lake 
Erie,  we,  the  French,  can  command  all  the  upper 

1  Lettre  de  Frontenac  au  Ministre,  13  Nov.  1673. 


1673-4.]  LA  SALLE  AT  COURT.  89 

lakes.  This  plan  was  an  essential  link  in  the 
scheme  of  La  Salle ;  and  we  shall  soon  find  him 
employed  in  executing  it. 

It  remained  to  determine  what  disposition  should 
be  made  of  the  new  fort.  For  some  time  it  was 
uncertain  whether  the  king  would  not  order  its 
demolition,  as  efforts  had  been  made  to  influence 
him  to  that  effect.  It  was  resolved,  however,  that, 
being  once  constructed,  it  should  be  allowed  to 
stand ;  and,  after  a  considerable  delay,  a  final  ar- 
rangement was  made  for  its  maintenance,  in  the 
manner  following :  In  the  autumn  of  1674,  La 
Salle  went  to  France,  with  letters  of  strong  recom- 
mendation from  Frontenac.1  He  was  well  received 
at  Court ;  and  he  made  two  petitions  to  the  king ; 
the  one  for  a  patent  of  nobility,  in  considera- 
tion of  his  services  as  an  explorer ;  and  the  other 
for  a  grant  in  seigniory  of  Fort  Frontenac,  for  so  he 
called  the  new  post,  in  honor  of  his  patron.  On 
his  part,  he  offered  to  pay  back  the  ten  thousand 
francs  which  the  fort  had  cost  the  king ;  to  main- 
tain it  at  his  own  charge,  with  a  garrison  equal  to 
that  of  Montreal,  besides  fifteen  or  twenty  laborers  ; 
to  form  a  French  colony  around  it ;  to  build  a 
church,  whenever  the  number  of  inhabitants  should 
reach  one  hundred  ;  and,  meanwhile,  to  support  one 

1  In  his  despatch  to  the  minister  Colbert,  of  the  fourteenth  of  Novem- 
ber, 1674,  Frontenac  speaks  of  La  Salle  as  follows  :  "  I  cannot  help,  Mon- 
seigneur,  recommending  to  you  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  is  about  to  go 
to  France,  and  who  is  a  man  of  intelligence  and  ability,  —  more  capable 
than  anybody  else  I  know  here,  to  accomplish  every  kind  of  enterprise 
and  discovery  which  may  be  entrusted  to  him,  —  as  lie  has  the  most  per- 
fect knowledge  of  the  state  of  the  country,  as  you  will  see  if  you  are  dis- 
posed to  give  him  a  few  moments  of  audience." 

8* 


90  LA  SALLE  AND   FRONTENAC.  [1675. 

or  more  Recollet  friars  ;  and,  finally,  to  form  a  set- 
tlement of  domesticated  Indians  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. His  offers  were  accepted.  He  was  raised 
to  the  rank  of  the  untitled  nobles ;  received  a  grant 
of  the  fort,  and  lands  adjacent,  to  the  extent  of  four 
leagues  in  front  and  half  a  league  in  depth,  be- 
sides the  neighboring  islands ;  and  was  invested  with 
the  government  of  the  fort  and  settlement,  subject 
to  the  orders  of  the  Governor-General.1 

La  Salle  returned  to  Canada,  proprietor  of  a 
seigniory,  which,  all  things  considered,  was  one  of 
the  most  valuable  in  the  colony.  It  was  now  that 
his  family,  rejoicing  in  his  good  fortune,  and  not 
unwilling  to  share  it,  made  him  large  advances  of 
money,  enabling  him  to  pay  the  stipulated  sum  to 
the  king,  to  rebuild  the  fort  in  stone,  maintain  sol- 
diers and  laborers,  and  procure  in  part,  at  least,  the 
necessary  outfit.  Had  La  Salle  been  a  mere  mer- 
chant, he  was  in  a  fair  way  to  make  a  fortune,  for  he 
was  in  a  position  to  control  the  better  part  of  the 
Canadian  fur  trade.  But  he  was  not  a  mere  mer- 
chant ;  and  no  commercial  profit  could  content  the 
broad  ambition  that  urged  his  scheming  brain. 

Those  may  believe,  who  will,  that  Frontenac  did 
not  expect  a  share  in  the  profits  of  the  new  post. 
That  he  did  expect  it,  there  is  positive  evidence,  for 


1  Me'moire  pour  I'entretien  du  Fort  Frontenac,  par  le  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  1674. 
MS.  Pelition  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle  an  Rot,  MS.  Lettres  patentes  de  concession 
du  Fort  de  Frontenac  et  terres  adjacentes  au  profit  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle ;  donnees 
a  Compiegne  le  13  Mai,  1675,  MS.  Arret  qui  accepte  les  offres  faites  par 
Robert  Cavelier  Sr-  de  la  Salle;  a  Compiegne  le  13  Mai,  1675,  MS.  Lettres 
de  noblesse  pour  le  Sr-  Cauelier  de  la  Salle ;  donnees  a  Compiegne  le  13  Mai, 
1675,  MS.     Papiers  de  Famille  ;  Me'moire  au  Roi,  MS. 


1676.]  TRADE   OF  LAKE   ONTARIO.  91 

a  deposition  is  extant,  taken  at  the  instance  of  his 
enemy,  the  Intendant  Duchesneau,  in  which  three 
witnesses  attest  that  the  Governor.  La  Salle,  his 
lieutenant  La  Forest,  and  one  Boisseau,  had 
formed  a  partnership  to  carry  on  the  trade  of 
Fort  Frontenac. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

1674-1678. 
LA   SALLE   AND   THE  JESUITS. 

The  Abbe  Fenelon.  —  He  attacks  the  Governor.  —  The  Enemies  of 
La  Salle. — Aims  of  the  Jesuits.  —  Their  Hostility  to  La  Salle. 

A  curious  incident  occurred  soon  after  the  build- 
ing of  the  fort  on  Lake  Ontario.  A  violent  quarrel 
had  taken  place  between  Frontenac  and  Perrot,  the 
Governor  of  Montreal,  whom,  in  view  of  his  specu- 
lations in  the  fur-trade,  he  seems  to  have  regarded 
as  a  rival  in  business;  but  who,  by  his  folly  and 
arrogance,  would  have  justified  any  reasonable 
measure  of  severity.  Frontenac,  however,  was  not 
reasonable.  He  arrested  Perrot,  threw  him  into 
prison,  and  set  up  a  man  of  his  own  as  governor  in 
his  place  ;  and,  as  the  judge  of  Montreal  was  not 
in  his  interest,  he  removed  him,  and  substituted 
another,  on  whom  he  could  rely.  Thus  for  a  time 
he  had  Montreal  well  in  hand. 

The  priests  of  the  Seminary,  seigneurs  of  the 
island,  regarded  these  arbitrary  proceedings  with 
extreme  uneasiness.  They  claimed  the  right  of 
nominating  their  own  governor  ;.  and  Perrot,  though 


1674.]  ABBfi   F&NELON.  .  93 

he  held  a  commission  from  the  king,  owed  his  place 
to  then."  appointment.  True,  he  had  set  them  at 
nought,  and  proved  a  veritable  King  Stork,  yet  nev- 
ertheless they  regarded  his  removal  as  an  infringe- 
ment of  their  rights. 

During  the  quarrel  with  Perrot,  La  Salle  chanced 
to  be  at  Montreal,  lodged  in  the  house  of  Jacques 
Le  Ber;  who,  though  one  of  the  principal  mer- 
chants and  most  influential  inhabitants  of  the  set- 
tlement, was  accustomed  to  sell  goods  across  his 
counter  in  person  to  white  men  and  Indians,  his 
wife  taking  his  place  when  he  was  absent.  Such 
were  the  primitive  manners  of  the  secluded  little 
colony.  Le  Ber,  at  this  time,  was  in  the  interest 
of  Frontenac  and  La  Salle;  though  he  afterwards 
became  one  of  their  most  determined  opponents. 
Amid  the  excitement  and  discussion  occasioned  by 
Perrot's  arrest,  La  Salle  declared  himself  an  adhe- 
rent of  the  Governor,  and  warned  all  persons  against 
speaking  ill  of  him  in  his  hearing. 

The  Abbe  Fenelon,  already  mentioned  as  half- 
brother  to  the  famous  Archbishop,  had  attempted 
to  mediate  between  Frontenac  and  Perrot;  and  to 
this  end  had  made  a  journey  to  Quebec  on  the  ice, 
in  midwinter.  Being  of  an  ardent  temperament, 
and  more  courageous  than  prudent,  he  had  spoken 
somewhat  indiscreetly,  and  had  been  very  roughly 
treated  by  the  stormy  and  imperious  Count.  He 
returned  to  Montreal  greatly  excited,  and  not  with- 
out cause.  It  fell  to  his  lot  to  preach  the  Easter 
sermon.  The  service  was  held  in  the  little  church 
of  the  Hotel-Dieu,  which  was  crowded  to  the  porch, 


94  LA  SALLE  AND   THE  JESUITS.  [1674. 

all  the  chief  persons  of  the  settlement  being  present. 
The  cure  of  the  parish,  whose  name  also  was  Per- 
rot,  said  High  Mass,  assisted  by  La  Salle's  brother, 
Cavelier,  and  two  other  priests.  Then  Fenelon 
mounted  the  pulpit.  Certain  passages  of  his  ser- 
mon were  obviously  levelled  against  Frontenac. 
Speaking  of  the  duties  of  those  clothed  with  tem- 
poral authority,  he  said  that  the  magistrate,  inspired 
with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  was  as  ready  to  pardon 
offences  against  himself  as  to  punish  those  against 
his  prince  ;  that  he  was  full  of  respect  for  the  min- 
isters of  the  altar,  and  never  maltreated  them  whea 
they  attempted  to  reconcile  enemies  and  restore 
peace  ;  that  he  never  made  favorites  of  those  who 
flattered  him,  nor  under  specious  pretexts  oppressed 
other  persons  in  authority  who  opposed  his  enter- 
prises ;  that  he  used  his  power  to  serve  his  king, 
and  not  to  his  own  advantage ;  that  he  remained 
content  with  his  salary,  without  disturbing  the  com- 
merce of  the  country,  or  abusing  those  who  refused 
him  a  share  in  their  profits  ;  and  that  he  never 
troubled  the  people  by  inordinate  and  unjust  levies 
of  men  and  material,  using  the  name  of  his  prince 
as  a  cover  to  his  own  designs.1 

La  Salle  sat  near  the  door,  but  as  the  preacher 
proceeded,  he  suddenly  rose  to  his  feet  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  attract  the  notice  of  the  congregation. 
As  they  turned  their  heads,  he  signed  to  the  princi- 
pal persons  among  them,  and  by  his  angry  looks 

1  Faillon,  Colonie  Franqaise,  iii.  497,  and  manuscript  authorities  there 
cited.  I  have  examined  the  principal  of  these.  Faillon  himself  is  a 
priest  of  St.  Sulpice.  Compare  H.  Verreau,  Les  Deux  Abbe's  de  Ftnelon, 
chap.  vii. 


1674.]  FENELON'S  recall.  95 

and  gesticulation  called  their  attention  to  the  words 
of  Fenelon.  Then  meeting  the  eye  of  the  cure, 
who  sat  beside  the  altar,  he  made  the  same  signs 
to  him,  to  which  the  cure  replied  by  a  deprecating 
shrug  of  the  shoulders.  Fenelon  changed  color, 
but  continued  his  sermon.1 

This  indecent  procedure  of  La  Salle  filled  the 
priests  with  anxiety,  for  they  had  no  doubt  that  the 
sermon  would  speedily  be  reported  to  Frontenac. 
Accordingly  they  made  all  haste  to  disavow  it,  and 
their  letter  to  that  effect  was  the  first  information 
which  the  Governor  received  of  the  affair.  He 
summoned  the  offender  to  Quebec,  to  answer  a 
charge  of  seditious  language,  before  the  Supreme 
Council.  Fenelon  appeared  accordingly,  but  de- 
nied the  jurisdiction  of  the  Council ;  claiming  that 
as  an  ecclesiastic  it  was  his  right  to  be  tried  by  the 
Bishop.  By  way  of  asserting  this  right,  he  seated 
himself  in  presence  of  his  judges,  and  put  on  his 
hat ;  and  being  rebuked  by  Frontenac,  who  pre- 
sided, he  pushed  it  on  farther.2  He  was  placed 
under  arrest,  and  soon  after  required  to  leave  Can- 
ada ;  but  the  king  accompanied  the  recall  with  a 
sharp  word  of  admonition  to  his  too  strenuous  lieu- 
tenant.3 


1  Information  faicte  par  nous,  Charles  Le  Tardieu,  Sieur  de  Tilly,  et  Nico- 
las Dupont,  etc.  etc.,  centre  le  Sr-  Abh€  de  F€nelon,  MS.  Tilly  and  Dupont 
were  sent  by  Frontenac  to  inquire  into  the  affair.  Among  the  deponents 
is  La  Salle  himself. 

2  The  Council  always  held  its  session  with  hats  on.  It  seems  that  a 
priest,  summoned  before  it  as  a  witness,  was  also  entitled  to  wear  his  hat, 
and  Fenelon  maintained  that  it  had  no  right  to  require  him  to  appear  be- 
fore it  in  any  other  character. 

8  Lettre  du  Roi  a  Frontenac,  22  Avril,  1675,  MS. 


96  LA  SALLE  AND  THE  JESUITS.     [1674-8. 

This  affair  gives  us  a  glimpse  of  the  distracted 
state  of  the  colony,  racked  by  the  discord  of  con- 
flicting interests  and  passions.  There  were  the 
quarrels  of  rival  traders,  the  quarrels  of  priests 
among  themselves,  of  priests  with  the  civil  authori- 
ties, and  of  the  civil  authorities  among  themselves. 
Prominent,  if  not  paramount,  among  the  occasions 
of  strife,  were  the  schemes  of  Cavelier  de  La  Salle. 
All  the  traders  not  interested  with  him  leagued  to- 
gether to  oppose  him ;  and  this  with  an  acrimony 
easily  understood,  when  it  is  remembered  that  they 
depended  for  subsistence  on  the  fur-trade,  while 
La  Salle  had  engrossed  a  great  part  of  it,  and 
threatened  to  engross  far  more.  Duchesneau,  In- 
tendant  of  the  colony,  and  in  that  capacity  almost 
as  a  matter  of  course  on  ill  terms  with  the  Gov- 
ernor, was  joined  with  this  party  of  opposition, 
with  whom  he  evidently  had  commercial  interests 
in  common.  La  Chesnaye.  Le  Moyne,  and  ulti- 
mately Le  Ber,  besides  various  others  of  more  or 
less  influence,  were  in  the  league  against  La  Salle. 
Among  them  was  Louis  Joliet,  whom  his  partisans 
put  forward  as  a  rival  discoverer,  and  a  foil  to  La 
Salle.  Joliet,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  applied 
for  a  grant  of  land  in  the  countries  he  had  discov- 
ered, and  had  been  refused.  La  Salle  soon  after 
made  a  similar  application,  and  with  a  different  re- 
sult, as  will  presently  appear.  His  adherents  con- 
tinually depreciated  the  merits  of  Joliet,  and  even 
expressed  doubt  of  the  reality,  or  at  least  the  extent, 
of  his  discoveries. 

But  there  was  another  element  of  opposition  to 


1674-8.]  PURPOSES   OF   THE   JESUITS.  97 

La  Salle,  less  noisy,  but  not  less  formidable,  and 
this  arose  from  the  Jesuits.  Frontenac  hated  them ; 
and  they,  under  befitting  forms  of  duty  and  courtesy, 
paid  him  back  in  the  same  coin.  Having  no  love 
for  the  Governor,  they  would  naturally  have  little 
for  his  partisan  and  protege ;  but  their  opposition 
had  another  and  a  deeper  root,  for  the  plans  of  the 
daring  young  schemer  jarred  with  their  own. 

We  have  seen  the  Canadian  Jesuits  in  the  early 
apostolic  days  of  their  mission,  when  the  flame  of 
their  zeal,  fed  by  an  ardent  hope,  burned  bright 
and  high.  This  hope  was  doomed  to  disappoint- 
ment. Their  avowed  purpose  of  building  another 
Paraguay  on  the  borders  of  the  Great  Lakes1  was 
never  accomplished,  and  then  missions  and  their 
converts  were  swept  away  in  an  avalanche  of  ruin. 
Still,  they  would  not  despair.  From  the  Lakes 
they  turned  their  eyes  to  the  Valley  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, in  the  hope  to  see  it  one  day  the  seat  of  their 
new  empire  of  the  Faith.  But  what  did  this  new 
Paraguay  mean  I  It  meant  a  little  nation  of  con- 
verted and  domesticated  savages,  docile  as  children, 
under  the  paternal  and  absolute  rule  of  Jesuit 
fathers,  and  trained  by  them  in  industrial  pursuits, 
the  results  of  which  were  to  inure,  not  to  the  profit 
of  the  producers,  but  to  the  building  of  churches, 
the  founding  of  colleges,  the  establishment  of  ware- 
houses and  magazines,  and  the  construction  of 
works  of  defence,  —  all  controlled  by  Jesuits,  and 
forming  a  part  of  the  vast  possessions  of  the  Order. 

1  This  purpose  is  several  times  indicated  in  the  Relations.  For  an  in- 
stance, see  "Jesuits  in  North  America,  "  153. 

9 


98         LA  SALLE  AND  THE  JESUITS.       [1674-8. 

Such  was  the  old  Paraguay,1  and  such,  we  may  sup- 
pose, would  have  been  the  new,  had  the  plans  of 
those  who  designed  it  been  realized. 

I  have  said  that  since  the  middle  of  the  century 
the  religious  exaltation  of  the  early  missions  had 
sensibly  declined.  In  the  nature  of  things,  that 
grand  enthusiasm  was  too  intense  and  fervent  to 
be  long  sustained.  But  the  vital  force  of  Jesuitism 
had  suffered  no  diminution.  That  marvellous  esprit 
de  corjis,  that  extinction  of  self,  and  absorption  of 
the  individual  in  the  Order,  which  has  marked  the 
Jesuits  from  their  first  existence  as  a  body,  was 
no  whit  changed  or  lessened  ;  a  principle,  which, 
though  different,  was  no  less  strong  than  the  self- 
devoted  patriotism  of  Sparta  or  the  early  Roman 
Republic. 

The  Jesuits  were  no  longer  supreme  in  Canada, 
or,  in  other  words,  Canada  was  no  longer  simply 
a  mission.  It  had  become  a  colony.  Temporal  in- 
terests and  the  civil  power  were  constantly  gaining 
ground  ;  and  the  disciples  of  Loyola  felt  that  rela- 
tively,  if  not  absolutely,  they  were  losing  it.  They 
struggled  vigorously  to  maintain  the  ascendancy  of 
their  Order;  or,  as  they  would  have  expressed  it, 
the  ascendancy  of  religion  :  but  in  the  older  and 
more  settled  parts  of  the  colony  it  was  clear  that 
the  day  of  their  undivided  rule  was  past.  There- 
fore, they  looked  with  redoubled  solicitude  to  their 
missions  in  the  West.  They  had  been  among  its 
first  explorers  ;  and  they  hoped  that  here  the  Cath- 

1  Compare  Charlevoix,  Hiotoire  de  Paraguay,  with  Robertson,  Letters 
on  Paraguay. 


1674-8.]  FKONTENAC'S  OPPOSITION.  99 

olic  Faith,  as  represented  by  Jesuits,  might  reign 
with  undisputed  sway.  In  Paraguay,  it  was  their 
constant  aim  to  exclude  white  men  from  their  mis- 
sions. It  was  the  same  in  North  America.  They 
dreaded  fur-traders,  partly  because  they  interfered 
with  their  teachings  and  perverted  their  converts, 
and  partly  for  other  reasons.  But  La  Salle  was  a 
fur-trader,  and  far  worse  than  a  fur-trader, — he 
aimed  at  occupation,  fortification,  settlement.  The 
scope  and  vigor  of  his  enterprises,  and  the  powerful 
influence  that  aided  them  made  him  a  stumbling- 
block  in  their  path.  As  they  would  have  put  the 
case,  it  was  the  spirit  of  this  world  opposed  to  the 
spirit  of  religion  ;  but  I  may  perhaps  be  pardoned 
if  I  am  constrained  to  think  that  the  spirit  which 
inspired  these  fathers  was  not  uniformly  celestial, 
notwithstanding  the  virtues  which  sometimes  illus- 
trated it. 

Frontenac,  in  his  letters  to  the  Court,  is  contin- 
ually begging  that  more  Recollet  friars  may  be  sent 
to  Canada.1  Not  that  he  had  any  peculiar  fondness 
for  ecclesiastics  of  any  kind,  regular  or  secular, 
white,  black,  or  gray ;  but  he  wanted  the  Recollets 
to  oppose  to  the  Jesuits.  He  had  no  fear  of  these 
mendicant  disciples  of  St.  Francis.  Far  less  able 
and  less  ambitious  than  the  Jesuits,  he  knew  that 
he  could  manage  them,  because  they  would  need 
his  support  against  their  formidable  rivals.  La 
Salle,  too,  wanted  more  Recollets,  and  for  the  same 

1  Tlie  Recollets,  ejected  from  Canada  on  the  irruption  of  the  English 
in  1629  (see  "  Pioneers  of  France  in  the  New  World  "),  had  not  been  al- 
lowed to  return  until  1669,  when  their  missions  were  begun  anew. 


100  LA  SALLE  AND   THE  JESUITS.  [1674-8 

reason  ;  but  in  one  point  he  differed  from  his  patron. 
He  was  a  man,  not  only  of  regulated  life,  but  of 
strong  religious  feeling,  and,  bating  his  violent 
prepossession  against  the  Jesuits,  he  respected  the 
Church  and  its  ministers,  as  his  letters  and  his  life 
attest.  Thus,  in  replying  to  a  charge  of  undue  se- 
verity towards  some  of  his  followers,  he  alleges  in 
his  justification  the  profane  language  of  the  men 
in  question,  and  adds,  "  I  am  a  Christian ;  I  will 
have  no  blasphemers  in  my  camp."  x 

1  Letter  of  La  Salle  in  the  hands  of  M.  Margry. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1678. 

PAETY   STRIFE. 

La  Salle  and  his  Reporter.  —  Jesuit  Ascendancy.  —  The  Missions 
and  the  Fur-Trade.  —  Female  Inquisitors. — Plots  against  La 
Salle.  —  His  Brother  the  Priest.  —  Intrigues  of  the  Jesuits.  — 
La  Salle  poisoned.  —  He  exculpates  the  Jesuits.  —  Renewed 
Intrigues. 

One  of  the  most  curious  monuments  of  La  Salle's 
time  is  a  long  memoir,  written  by  a  person  who 
made  his  acquaintance  at  Paris,  in  the  summer  of 
1678,  when,  as  we  shall  soon  see,  he  had  returned 
to  France,  in  prosecution  of  his  plans.  The  writer 
knew  the  Sulpitian  Galinee,1  who,  as  he  says,  had 
a  very  high  opinion  of.  La  Salle  ;  and  he  was  also 
in  close  relations  with  the  discoverer's  patron,  the 
Prince  de  Conti.2  He  says  that  he  had  ten  or 
twelve  interviews  with  La  Salle,  and  becoming  in- 
terested in  him  and  in  that  which  he  communicated, 
he  wrote  down  the  substance  of  his  conversation. 
The  paper  is  divided  into  two  parts,  —  the  first, 
called  "  Memoire  sur  Mr.  de  la  Salle,"  is  devoted 


1  Ante,  p.  11. 

2  Louis-Armand  de  Bourbon,  second  Prince  de  Conti.    I  am  strongly 
inclined  to  think  that  this  nobleman  himself  is  author  of  the  memoir. 

9* 

uVRAm 

CTATK  TEACHERS  COUJUJl 
SANTA  BARBARA.  CAUFOHNI*., 


102  PAKTY   STRIFE.  [1678. 

to  the  state  of  affairs  in  Canada,  and  chiefly  to  the 
Jesuits  ;  the  second,  entitled  "  Histoire  de  Mr.  de 
la  Salle,"  is  an  account  of  the  discoverer's  life,  or 
as  much  of  it  as  the  writer  had  learned  from  him.1 
Both  parts  bear  throughout  the  internal  evidence 
of  being  what  they  profess  to  be  ;  but  they  embody 
the  statements  of  a  man  of  intense  partisan  feeling, 
transmitted  through  the  mind  of  another  person, 
in  sympathy  with  him,  and  evidently  sharing  his 
prepossessions.  In  one  respect,  however,  the  paper 
is  of  unquestionable  historical  value  ;  for  it  gives 
us  a  vivid  and  not  an  exaggerated  picture  of  the 
bitter  strife  of  parties  which  then  raged  in  Canada, 
and  which  was  destined  to  tax  to  the  utmost  the 
vast  energy  and  fortitude  of  La  Salle.  At  times  the 
memoir  is  fully  sustained  by  contemporary  evidence ; 
but  often,  again,  it  rests  on  its  own  unsupported 
authority.  I  give  an  abstract  of  its  statements  as 
I  find  them. 

The  following  is  the  writer's  account  of  La  Salle : 
•■  All  those  among  my  friends  who  have  seen  him 
find  in  him  a  man  of  great  intelligence  and  sense. 
He  rarely  speaks  of  any  subject  except  when  ques- 
tioned about  it,  and  his  words  are  very  few  and 
very  precise.  He  distinguishes  perfectly  between 
that  which  he  knows  with  certainty  and  that  which 
he  knows  with  some  mingling  of  doubt.  When  he 
does  not  know,  he  does  not  hesitate  to  avow  it.  and 
though  I  have  heard  him  say  the  same  thing  more 
than  five  or  six  times,  when  persons  were  present 

1  Extracts  from  this  have  already  been  given  in  connection  with  La 
Salle's  supposed  discovery  of  the  Mississippi.     Ante,  p.  20. 


1678]  JESUIT  ASCENDANCY.  103 

who  had  not  heard  it  before,  he  always  said  it  in 
the  same  manner.  In  short,  I  never  heard  anybody 
speak  whose  words  carried  with  them  more  marks 
of  truth."  ] 

After  mentioning  that  he  is  thirty-three  or  thirty- 
four  years  old,  and  that  he  has  been  twelve  years 
in  America,  the  memoir  declares  that  he  made  the 
following  statements,  —  that  the  Jesuits  are  masters 
at  Quebec  ;  that  the  Bishop  is  their  creature,  and 
does  nothing  but  in  concert  with  them  ;  2  that  he  is 
not  well  inclined  towards  the  Recollets,3  who  have 
little  credit,  but  who  are  protected  by  Frontenac ; 
that  in  Canada  the  Jesuits  think  everybody  an  ene- 
my to  religion  who  is  an  enemy  to  them ;  that, 
though  they  refused  absolution  to  all  who  sold 
brandy  to  the  Indians,  they  sold  it  themselves,  and 


1  Tous  ceux  de  mes  amis  qui  l'ont  vu  luy  trouve  beaucoup  d'esprit  et 
un  tres  grand  sens ;  il  ne  parle  gueres  que  des  choses  sur  lesquelles  on 
I'interroge  ;  il  les  dit  en  tres-peu  de  mots  et  tres-bien  circonstancie's  ;  il  dis- 
tingue parfaitement  ce  qu'il  scait  avec  certitude,  de  ce  qu'il  scait  avec 
quelque  melange  de  doute.  II  avoue  sans  aucune  facon  ne  pas  savoir  ce 
qu'il  ne  scait  pas,  et  quoyque  je  lui  aye  ouy  dire  plus  de  cinq  ou  six  Ibis 
les  mesme  choses  a  ['occasion  de  quelques  personnes  qui  ne  les  avaient 
point  encore  entendues,  je  les  luy  ay  toujours  ouy  dire  de  la  mesme 
maniere.  En  un  mot  je  n'ay  jamais  ouy  parler  personne  dont  les  paroles 
portassent  plus  de  marques  de  ve'rite'." 

2  "  II  y  a  une  autre  chose  qui  me  deplait,  qui  est  l'entiere  dependence 
dans  laquelle  les  Pretres  du  Seminaire  de  Que'bec  et  le  Grand  Vicaire  de 
l'Eveque  sont  pour  les  Peres  Jesuites,  car  il  ne  fait  pas  la  moindre  chose 
sans  leur  ordre  ;  ce  qui  fait  qu'indirectement  ils  sont  les  maitres  de  ce  qui 
regarde  le  spirituel,  qui,  conime  vous  savez,  est  une  grande  machine  pour 
remuer  tout  le  reste.  —  Lettre  de  Frontenac  a  Colbert,  '1  Nov.  1672. 

3  "  Ces  religieux  (les  Recollets)  sont  fort  protege's  partout  par  le  comte 
de  Frontenac,  gouverneur  du  pays,  et  a  cause  de  cela  assez  maltraites  par 
I'eVesque,  parceque  la  doctrine  de  I'eVesque  et  des  Jesuites  est  que  les 
affaires  de  la  Religion  chrestienne  n'iront  point  bien  dans  ce  pays-la  que 
quand  le  gouverneur  sera  creature  des  Jesuites,  ou  que  l'e'vesque  sera 
gouverneur."  —  Me'moire  sur  Mr-de  la  Salle. 


104  PARTY   STRIFE.  [1678. 

that  he,  La  Salle,  had  himself  detected  them  in 
it ;  ]  that  the  Bishop  laughs  at  the  orders  of  the 
king  when  they  do  not  agree  with  the  wishes  of 
the  Jesuits  ;  that  the  Jesuits  dismissed  one  of  their 
servants  named  Robert,  because  he  told  of  their 
trade  in  brandy  ;  that  Albanel,2  in  particular,  carried 
on  a  great  fur-trade,  and  that  the  Jesuits  have  built 
their  college  in  part  from  the  profits  of  this  kind  of 
traffic ;  that  they  admitted  that  they  carried  on  a 
trade,  but  denied  that  they  gained  so  much  by  it 
as  was  commonly  supposed.3 

The  memoir  proceeds  to  affirm  that  they  trade 
largely  with  the  Sioux,  at  Ste.  Marie,  and  with 
other  tribes  at  Michillimackinac,  and  that  they  are 
masters  of  the  trade  of  that  region,  where  the  forts 

1  "lis  (les  Jesuites)  refusent  l'absolution  a  ceux  qui  ne  veulent  pas 
promettre  de  n'en  plus  vendre  (de  l'eau-de-vie),  et  s'ils  meurent  en  cet  etat, 
ils  les  privent  de  la  sepulture  eeele'siastique  ;  au  contraire  ils  se  permettent 
a  eux-memes  sans  aucune  difficulte  ce  mesme  trafie  quoique  tout  eorte  de 
trafic  soit  interdit  a  tous  les  eecle'siastiques  par  les  ordonnanees  du  Roy,  et 
par  une  bulle  expresse  du  Pape.  La  Bulle  et  les  ordonnanees  sont  notoires, 
et  quoyqu'ils  cachent  le  trafic  qu'ils  font  d'eau-de-vie,  M  de  la  Salle  pretend 
qu'il  ne  Test  pas  moins  ;  qu'  outre  la  notoriete  il  en  a  des  preuves  certaines, 
et  qu'il  les  a  surpris  dans  ce  trafic,  et  qu'ils  luy  ont  tendu  des  pieces  pour 
l'y  surprendre  ...  Ils  ont  chasse  leur  valet  Robert  a  cause  qu'il  re  vela 
qu'ils  en  traitaient  jour  et  nuit."  —  Ibid.  The  writer  says  that  he  makes 
this  last  statement,  not  on  the  authority  of  La  Salle,  but  on  that  of  a 
memoir  made  at  the  time  when  the  Intendant,  Talon,  with  whom  he  else- 
where says  that  he  was  well  acquainted,  returned  to  France.  A  great 
number  of  particulars  are  added  respecting  the  Jesuit  trade  in  furs. 

52  Albanel  was  prominent  among  the  Jesuit  explorers  at  this  time.  He 
is  best  known  by  his  journey  up  the  Saguenay  to  Hudson's  Bay  in  1672. 

3  "  Pour  vous  parler  franchement,  ils  (les  Je'suites)  songent  autant  a  la 
conversion  du  Castor  qu'ti  celle  des  ames."  —  Lettre  de  Frontenac  a  Colbert, 
2  Nov.  1672. 

In  his  despatch  of  the  next  year,  he  says  that  the  Jesuits  ought  to  con- 
tent themselves  with  instructing  the  Indians  in  their  old  missions,  instead 
of  neglecting  them  to  make  new  ones,  in  countries  where  there  are  "  more 
beaver-skins  to  gain  than  souls  to  save." 


1678.]  TRADE   OF  THE  JESUITS.  105 

are  in  their  possession.1  An  Indian  said,  in  full 
council,  at  Quebec,  that  he  had  prayed  and  been  a 
Christian  as  long  as  the  Jesuits  would  stay  and 
teach  him,  but  since  no  more  beaver  were  left  in 
his  country,  the  missionaries  were  gone  also.  The 
Jesuits,  pursues  the  memoir,  will  have  no  priests 
but  themselves  in  their  missions,  and  call  them  all 
Jansenists,  not  excepting  the  priests  of  St.  Sulpice. 
The  bishop  is  next  accused  of  harshness  and  in- 
tolerance, as  well  as  of  growing  rich  by  tithes,  and 
even  by  trade,  in  which  it  is  affirmed  he  has  a  covert 
interest.2  It  is  added  that  there  exists  in  Quebec, 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Jesuits,  an  association 
called  the  Sainte  Famille,  of  which  Madame  Bour- 
don3 is  superior.  They  meet  in  the  cathedral  every 
Thursday,  with  closed  doors,  where  they  relate  to 
each  other  —  as  they  are  bound  by  a  vow  to  do  —  all 
they  have  learned,  whether  good  or  evil,  concern- 
ing other  people,  during  the  week.  It  is  a  sort  of 
female  inquisition,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Jesuits, 
the  secrets  of  whose  friends,  it  is  said,  are  kept, 
while  no  such  discretion  is  observed  with  regard  to 
persons  not  of  their  party.4 

1  These  forts  were  built  by  them,  and  were  necessary  to  the  security 
of  their  missions. 

2  Francois  Xavier  de  Laval-Montmorency,  first  bishop  of  Quebec,  was 
a  prelate  of  austere  character.  His  memory  is  cherished  in  Canada  by 
adherents  of  the  Jesuits  and  all  ultramontane  Catholics. 

3  This  Madame  Bourdon  was.  the  widow  of  Bourdon,  the  engineer, 
(see  "Jesuits  in  North  America,"  299).  If  we  may  credit  the  letters  of 
Marie  de  l'lncarnation,  she  had  married  him  from  a  religious  motive,  in 
order  to  charge  herself  with  the  care  of  his  motherless  children  ;  stipulating 
in  advance  that  he  should  live  with  her,  not  as  a  husband,  but  as  a 
brother.  As  may  be  imagined,  she  was  regarded  as  a  most  devout  and 
saint-like  person. 

*  "  II  y  a  dans  Quebec  une  congregation  de  femmes  et  de  filles  qu'ils 


106  PARTY   STRIFE.  [1678. 

Here  follow  a  series  of  statements,  which  it  is 
needless  to  repeat,  as  they  do  not  concern  La  Salle. 
They  relate  to  abuse  of  the  confessional,  hostility 
to  other  priests,  hostility  to  civil  authorities,  and 
over-hasty  baptisms,  in  regard  to  which  La  Salle  is 
reported  to  have  made  a  comparison,  unfavorable 
to  the  Jesuits,  between  them  and  the  Recollets  and 
Sulpitians. 

We  now  come  to  the  second  part  of  the  memoir, 
entitled  "  History  of  Monsieur  de  la  Salle."  After 
stating  that  he  left  France  at  the  age  of  twenty-one 
or  twenty-two,  with  the  purpose  of  attempting  some 
new  discovery,  it  makes  the  statements  repeated  in 
a  former  chapter,  concerning  his  discovery  of  the 
Ohio,  the  Illinois,  and  possibly  the  Mississippi.     It 

(les  Jesuites)  appellent  la  sainte  famille,  dans  laquelle  on  fait  vceu  sur  le3 
Saintes  Evangiles  de  dire  tout  ce  qu'on  sait  de  bien  et  de  mal  des  per- 
sonnes  qu'on  connoist.  La  Superieure  de  eette  compagnie  s'appelle  Mad- 
ame Bourdon  ;  une  M1,  Daillebout  est,  je  crois,  I'assistante  et  une  M 
Charron,  la  Tre'soriere.  La  compagnie  s 'assemble  tous  les  Jeudis  dans  la 
Cathedrale,  a  porte  fermee,  et  la  elles  se  disent  les  ones  aux  autres  tout 
ce  qu'elles  ont  appris.  C'est  une  espece  d'Inquisition  contre  toutes  les  per- 
sonnes  qui  ne  sont  pas  unies  avec  les  Je'suites.  Ces  personnes  sont  accuse'es 
de  tenir  secret  ce  qu'elles  apprennent  de  mal  des  personnes  de  leur  party  et 
de  n'avoir  pas  la  mesme  discretion  pour  les  autres."  —  Memoire  sur  Mr  de 
la  Salle. 

The  Madame  Daillebout  mentioned  above  was  a  devotee  like  Madame 
Bourdon,  and,  in  one  respect,  her  history  was  similar.  See  "  Jesuits  in 
North  America,"  p.  265. 

The  association  of  the  Sainte  Famille,  composed  entirely  of  women, 
was  founded  by  the  Jesuit  Chaumonot  at  Montreal  in  1663.  Laval. 
Bishop  of  Quebec,  afterwards  encouraged  its  establishment  at  that  place  ; 
and,  as  Chaumonot  himself  writes,  caused  it  to  be  attached  to  the  cathe- 
dral. —  Vie  de  Chaumonot,  83.  For  its  establishment  at  Montreal,  Faillon, 
Vie  de  MB*  Mance,  i.  233. 

"lis  (les  Jesuites)  ont  tous  une  si  grande  envie  de  savoir  tout  ce  qui 
se  fait  dans  les  families  qu'ils  ont  des  Inspecteurs  a  gages  dans  la  Ville,  qui 
leur  rapportent  tout  ce  qui  se  fait  dans  les  maisons,  '  etc.,  etc.  —  Leitre  de 
Frontenac  au  Ministre,  13  Nov.  1673. 


1678.]  INTRIGUES  AGAINST   LA  SALLE.  107 

then  mentions  the  building  of  Fort  Frontenac,  and 
says  that  one  object  of  it  was  to  prevent  the  Jesuits 
from  becoming  undisputed  masters  of  the  fur-trade.1 
Three  years  ago,  it  pursues,  La  Salle  came  to 
France,  and  obtained  a  grant  of  the  fort ;  and  it 
proceeds  to  give  examples  of  the  means  used  by  the 
party  opposed  to  him  to  injure  his  good  name,  and 
bring  him  within  reach  of  the  law.  Once,  when 
he  was  at  Quebec,  the  farmer  of  the  king's  reve- 
nue, one  of  the  richest  men  in  the  place,  was  ex- 
tremely urgent  in  his  proffers  of  hospitality,  and  at 
length,  though  he  knew  him  but  slightly,  per- 
suaded him  to  lodge  in  his  house.  He  had  been 
here  but  a  few  days  when  his  host's  wife  began  to 
enact  the  part  of  the  wife  of  Potiphar,  and  this  with 
so  much  vivacity,  that  on  one  occasion  La  Salle  was 
forced  to  take  an  abrupt  leave,  in  order  to  avoid  an 
infringement  of  the  laws  of  hospitality.  As  he 
opened  the  door,  he  found  the  husband  on  the 
watch,  and  saw  that  it  was  a  plot  to  entrap  him.2 

Another  attack,  of  a  different  character,  though 
in  the  same  direction,  was  soon  after  made.  The 
remittances  which  La  Salle  received  from  the  vari- 
ous members  and  connections  of  his  family  were 
sent  through  the  hands  of  his  brother,  the  Abbe 
Cavelier,  from  whom  his  enemies  were,  therefore, 
very  eager  to  alienate  him.  To  this  end,  a  report 
was  made  to  reach  the  priest's  ears,  that  La  Salle 
had  seduced  a  young  woman,  with  whom  he  was 

1  Mention  has  been  made  (p.  81,  note)  of  the  report  set  on  foot  by  the 
Jesuit  Dablon,  to  prevent  the  building  of  the  fort. 

2  This  story  is  told  at  considerable  length,  and  the  advances  of  the 
lady  particularly  described. 


108  PARTY   STRIFE.  [1678. 

living,  in  an  open  and  scandalous  manner,  at  Fort 
Frontenac.  The  effect  of  this  device  exceeded  the 
wishes  of  its  contrivers ;  for  the  priest,  aghast  at 
what  he  had  heard,  set  out  for  the  fort,  to  adminis- 
ter his  fraternal  rebuke ;  but,  on  arriving,  in  place 
of  the  expected  abomination,  found  his  brother, 
assisted  by  two  Recollet  friars,  ruling,  with  edifying 
propriety,  over  a  most  exemplary  household. 

Thus  far  the  memoir.  From  passages  in  some 
of  La  Salle's  letters,  it  may  be  gathered  that  the 
Abbe  Cavelier  gave  him  at  times  no  little  annoy- 
ance. In  his  double  character  of  priest  and  elder 
brother,  he  seems  to  have  constituted  himself  the 
counsellor,  monitor,  and  guide  of  a  man,  who, 
though  many  years  his  junior,  was  in  all  respects 
incomparably  superior  to  him,  as  the  sequel  will 
show-  This  must  have  been  almost  insufferable  to 
a  nature  like  that  of  La  Salle ;  who,  nevertheless, 
was  forced  to  arm  himself  with  patience,  since  his 
brother  held  the  purse-strings.  On  one  occasion, 
his  forbearance  was  put  to  a  severe  proof,  when, 
wishing  to  marry  a  damsel  of  good  connections  in 
the  colony,  the  Abbe  Cavelier  saw  fit,  for  some  rea- 
son, to  interfere,  and  prevented  the  alliance.1 

To  resume  the  memoir.  It  declares  that  the 
Jesuits  procured  an  ordinance  from  the  Supreme 
Council,  prohibiting  traders  from  going  into  the 
Indian  country,  in  order  that  they,  the  Jesuits, 
being  already  established  there  in  their  missions, 
might  carry  on  trade  without  competition.  But 
La  Salle  induced  a  good  number  of  the  Iroquois  to 

1  Letter  of  La  Salle  in  possession  of  M.  Margry. 


1678.]  LA   SALLE   POISONED.  109 

settle  around  his  fort ;  thus  bringing  the  trade  to  his 
own  door,  without  breaking  the  ordinance.  These 
Iroquois,  he  is  farther  reported  to  have  said,  were 
very  fond  of  him,  and  aided  him  in  rebuilding  the 
fort  with  cut  stone.  The  Jesuits  told  the  Iroquois 
on  the  south  side  of  the  lake,  where  they  were  es- 
tablished as  missionaries,  that  La  Salle  was  strength- 
ening his  defences,  with  the  view  of  making  war  on 
them.  They  and  the  Intendant,  who  was  their  creat- 
ure, endeavored  to  embroil  the  Iroquois  with  the 
French,  in  order  to  ruin  La  Salle;  writing  to  him  at 
the  same  time  that  he  was  the  bulwark  of  the 
country,  and  that  he  ought  to  be  always  on  his 
guard.  They  also  tried  to  persuade  Frontenac  that 
it  was  necessary  to  raise  men  and  prepare  for  war. 
La  Salle  suspected  them,  and,  seeing  that  the  Iro- 
quois, in  consequence  of  their  intrigues,  were  in 
an  excited  state,  he  induced  the  Governor  to  come 
to  Fort  Frontenac,  to  pacify  theni.  He  accordingly 
did  so,  and  a  council  was  held,  which  ended  in  a 
complete  restoration  of  confidence  on  the  part  of 
the  Iroquois.1  At  this  council  they  accused  the 
two  Jesuits,  Bruyas  and  Pierron,2  of  spreading  re- 

1  Louis  XIV.  alludes  to  this  visit,  in  a  letter  to  Frontenac,  dated  28 
April,  1677.  "  I  cannot  but  approve,"  he  writes,  "  of  what  you  have  done 
in  your  voyage  to  Eort  Frontenac,  to  reconcile  the  minds  of  the  Five  Iro- 
quois Nations,  and  to  clear  yourself  from  the  suspicions  they  had  enter- 
tained, and  from  the  motives  that  might  induce  them  to  make  war." 
Frontenac's  despatches  of  this,  as  well  as  of  the  preceding  and  following 
years,  are  missing  from  the  archives. 

In  a  memoir  written  in  November,  1680;  La  Salle  alludes  to  "  le  de'sir 
que  Ton  avoit  que  Monseigneur  le  Comte  de  Frontenac  fist  la  guerre  aux 
Iroquois."     See  Thomassy,  <>'<r<>l<>i/if  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,  203. 

2  Bruyas  was  about  this  time  stationed  among  the  Onondagas. 
Pierron  was  among  the  Senecas.     He  had  lately  removed  to  them  from 

10 


110  PARTY  STRIFE.  [1678. 

ports  that  the  French  were  preparing  to  attack 
them.  La  Salle  thought  that  the  object  of  the  in- 
trigue was  to  make  the  Iroquois  jealous  of  him,  and 
engage  Frontenac  in  expenses  which  would  offend 
the  king.  After  La  Salle  and  the  Governor  had 
lost  credit  by  the  rupture,  the  Jesuits  would  come 
forward  as  pacificators,  in  the  full  assurance  that 
they  could  restore  quiet,  and  appear  in  the  attitude 
of  saviors  of  the  colony. 

La  Salle,  pursues  his  reporter,  went  on  to  say, 
that  about  this  time  a  quantity  of  hemlock  and  ver- 
digris was  given  him  in  a  salad ;  and  that  the  guilty 
person  was  a  man  in  his  employ,  named  Nicolas 
Perrot,  otherwise  called  Solycceur,  who  confessed 
the  crime.1  The  memoir  adds  that  La  Salle,  who 
recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  poison,  wholly  ex- 
culpates the  Jesuits. 

This  attempt,  which  was  not,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
only  one  of  the  kind  made  against  La  Salle,  is  al- 
luded to  by  him,  in  a  letter  to  the  Prince  de  Conti, 


the  Mohawk  country. — Relation  des  Je~suites,  1673-9,  p.  140  (Shea). 
Bruyas  was  also  for  a  long  time  among  the  Mohawks. 

1  This  puts  the  character  of  Perrot  in  a  new  light,  for  it  is  not  likely 
that  any  other  can  be  meant  than  the  famous  voyageur.  I  have  found  no 
mention  elsewhere  of  the  synonyme  of  Solycceur.  Poisoning  was  the  cur- 
rent crime  of  the  day  ;  and  persons  of  the  highest  rank  had  repeatedly 
been  charged  with  it.     The  following  is  the  passage  :  — 

"  Quoiqu'il  en  soit,  Mr-  de  la  Salle  se  sentit  quelque  temps  aprcs  em- 
poissonne  d'une  salade  dans  laquelle  on  avoit  mesle'  du  cigue,  qui  est  poison 
en  ce  pays  la,  et  du  verd  de  gris.  II  en  fut  malade  a  l'extre'mite',  vomis- 
sant  presque  continuellement  40  ou  50  jours  apres,  et  il  ne  re'chappa  que 
par  la  force  extreme  de  sa  constitution.  Celuy  qui  luy  donna  le  poison 
fut  un  nomme'  Nicolas  Perrot,  autrement  Solycceur,  l'un  de  ses  domes- 
tiques.  ...  II  pouvait  faire  mourir  cet  homme,  qui  a  confesse'  son  crime, 
mais  il  s'est  contente  de  l'enfermer  les  fers  aux  pieds."  —  Histoire  de  Mr- 
de  la  Salle. 


1678.]  EELATIONS  WITH  THE  JESUITS.  Ill 

written  in  Canada,  when  he  was  on  the  point  of 
departure  on  his  great  expedition  to  descend  the 
Mississippi.     The  following  is  an  extract  from  it : 

"  I  hope  to  give  myself  the  honor  of  sending  you 
a  more  particular  account  of  this  enterprise  when 
it  shall  have  had  the  success  which  I  hope  for 
it ;  but  I  have  need  of  a  strong  protection  for  its 
support.  It  traverses  the  commercial  operations  of 
certain  persons,  who  will  rind  it  hard  to  endure  it. 
They  intended  to  make  a  new  Paraguay  in  these 
parts,  and  the  route  which  I  close  against  them 
gave  them  facilities  for  an  advantageous  corre- 
spondence with  Mexico.  This  check  will  infalli- 
bly be  a  mortification  to  them  ;  and  you  know  how7 
they  deal  with  whatever  opposes  them.  Neverthe- 
less, I  am  bound  to  render  them  the  justice  to  say 
that  the  poison  which  was  given  me  was  not  at 
all  of  their  instigation.  The  person  who  was  con- 
scious of  the  guilt,  believing  that  I  was  their  enemy 
because  he  saw  that  our  sentiments  were  opposed, 
thought'  to  exculpate  himself  by  accusing  them  ;  and 
I  confess  that  at  the  time  I  was  not  sorry  to  have 
this  indication  of  their  ill-will :  but  having  after- 
wards carefully  examined  the  affair,  I  clearly  dis- 
covered the  falsity  of  the  accusation  which  this 
rascal  had  made  against  them.  I  nevertheless  par- 
doned him,  in  order  not  to  give  notoriety  to  the 
affair;  as  the  mere  suspicion  might  sully  their  rep- 
utation, to  which  I  should  scrupulously  avoid  doing 
the  slightest  injury,  unless  I  thought  it  necessary  to 
the  good  of  the  public,  and  unless  the  fact  were 
fully   proved.      Therefore,   Monsieur,   if  any   one 


112  PARTY   STRIFE.  [1678. 

shared  the  suspicion  which  I  felt,  oblige  me  by  un- 
deceiving him."  1 

This  letter,  so  honorable  to  La  Salle,  explains  the 
statement  made  in  the  memoir,  that,  notwithstand- 
ing his  grounds  of  complaint  against  the  Jesuits  he 
continued  to  live  on  terms  of  courtesy  with  them, 
entertained  them  at  his  fort,  and  occasionally  cor- 
responded with  them.  The  writer  asserts,  how- 
ever, that  they  intrigued  with  his  men  to  induce 
them  to  desert ;  employing  for  this  purpose  a  young 
man  named  Deslauriers,  whom  they  sent  to  him  with 
letters  of  recommendation.  La  Salle  took  him  into 
his  service  ;  but  he  soon  after  escaped,  with  several 
other  men,  and  took  refuge  in  the  Jesuit  missions.2 
The  object  of  the  intrigue  is  said  to  have  been 
the  reduction  of  La  Salle's  garrison  to  a  number 
less  than  that  which  he  was  bound  to  maintain. 
thus  exposing  him  to  a  forfeiture  of  his  title  of 
possession. 

He  is  also  stated  to  have  declared  that  Louis 
Joliet  was  an  impostor.3  and  a  donne  of  the  Jes- 
uits, — that  is,  a  man  who  worked  for  them  with- 
out pay;  and,  farther,  that  when  he,  La  Salle,  came 

1  The  following  words  are  underlined  in  the  original :  "  Je  suis  pour- 
tant  oblige' de  leur  rendre  une  justice,  que  le  poison  qu'on  m'  avail  donne' n'estoit 
point  de  leur  instigation."  —  Lettre  de  la  Salle  an  Prince  de  Conti,  31  Oct.  1678. 

2  In  a  letter  to  the  king,  Frontenac  mentions  that  several  men  who 
had  been  induced  to  desert  from  La  Salle  had  gone  to  Albany,  where  the 
English  had  received  them  well.  —  Lettre  de  Frontenac  an  ll<>y,-Q  Nov.  1679. 
MS.  The  Jesuits  had  a  mission  in  the  neighboring  tribe  of  the  Mohawks, 
and  elsewhere  in  New  York. 

3  This  agrees  with  expressions  used  by  La  Salle  in  a  memoir  addressed 
by  him  to  Frontenac  in  November,  1680,  and  printed  by  Thomassy.  In 
this  he  plainly  intimates  his  belief  that  Joliet  went  but  little  below  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois. 


1678.]  EELATIONS   WITH  THE  JESUITS.  113 

to  court  to  ask  for  privileges  enabling  him  to  pursue 
his  discoveries,  the  Jesuits  represented  in  advance 
to  the  minister  Colbert,  that  his  head  was  turned, 
and  that  he  was  fit  for  nothing  but  a  mad-house. 
It  was  only  by  the  aid  of  influential  friends  that  he 
was  at  length  enabled  to  gain  an  audience. 

Here  ends  this  remarkable  memoir ;  which,  criti- 
cise it  as  we  may,  undoubtedly  contains  a  great 
deal  of  truth. 


10* 


CHAPTER  IX. 

1677-1678. 

THE  GRAND  ENTERPRISE. 

La  Salle  at  Fort   Frontenac. —  La  Salle   at    Court.  —  His    Plans 
approved.  —  Henri  de  Tonty.  —  Preparation  for  Departure. 

When  La  Salle  gained  possession  of  Fort  Fron- 
tenac,  he  secured  a  base  for  all  his  future  enter- 
prises. That  he  meant  to  make  it  a  permanent  one 
is  clear  from  the  pains  he  took  to  strengthen  its 
defences.  Within  two  years  from  the  date  of  his 
grant  he  had  replaced  the  hasty  palisade  fort  of 
Count  Frontenac  by  a  regular  work  of  hewn  stone  ; 
of  which,  however,  only  two  bastions,  with  their 
connecting  curtains,  were  completed,  the  enclosure 
on  the  water  side  being  formed  of  pickets.  Within, 
there  was  a  barrack,  a  well,  a  mill,  and  a  bakery; 
while  a  wooden  blockhouse  guarded  the  gateway.1 
Near  the  shore,  south  of  the  fort,  was  a  cluster  of 
small  houses  of  French  habitans ;  and  farther,  in 
the  same  direction,  was  the  Indian  village.  Two 
officers  and  a  surgeon,  with  half  a  score  or  more  of 

1  Plan  of  Fort  Frontenac,  published  by  Faillon,  from  the  original  sent 
to  France  by  Denonville,  1685. 


1677-8.]  FORT  FRONTENAC.  115 

soldiers,  made  up  the  garrison ;  and  three  or  four 
times  that  number  of  masons,  laborers,  and  canoe- 
men,  were  at  one  time  maintained  at  the  fort.1  Be- 
sides these,  there  were  two  Recollet  friars,  Luc 
Buisset  and  Louis  Hennepin ;  of  whom  the  latter 
was  but  indifferently  suited  to  his  apostolic  func- 
tions, as  we  shall  soon  discover.  La  Salle  built  a 
house  for  them,  near  the  fort ;  and  they  turned  a 
part  of  it  into  a  chapel. 

Partly  for  trading  on  the  lake,  partly  with  a  view 
to  ulterior  designs,  he  caused  four  small  decked 
vessels  to  be  built :  but,  for  ordinary  uses,  canoes 
best  served  his  purpose ;  and  his  followers  became 
so  skilful  in  managing  them,  that  they  were  reputed 
the  best  canoe-men  in  America.2  Feudal  lord  of 
the  forests  around  him,  commander  of  a  garrison 
raised  and  paid  by  himself,  founder  of  the  mission, 
patron  of  the  church,  La  Salle  reigned  the  autocrat 
of  his  lonely  little  empire. 

But  he  had  no  thought  of  resting  here.  He  had 
gained  what  he  sought,  a  fulcrum  for  bolder  and 
broader  action.  His  plans  were  ripened  and  his 
time  was  come.  He  was  no  longer  a  needy  adven- 
turer, disinherited  of  all  but  his  fertile  brain  and 
his  intrepid  heart.  He  had  won  place,  influence, 
credit,  and  potent   friends.      Now,   at   length,   he 


1  Etat  de  la  d€pense  faite  par  MT-  de  la  Salle,  Gouverneur  du  Fort  Fron- 
tenac,  MS.  When  Frontenac  was  at  the  fort  in  September,  1677,  he  found 
only  four  habitans.  It  appears  by  the  Relation  des  De'couvertes  du  Sr-  de  la 
Salle,  that,  three  or  four  years  later,  there  were  thirteen  or  fourteen  fami- 
lies. La  Salle  spent  34,426  francs  on  the  fort.  —  Me'moire  au  Roy,  Papiers 
de  Famille,  MSS. 

2  Relation  des  De'couvertes,  MS.     Hennepin  repeats  the  statement. 


116  THE  GRAND  ENTERPRISE.  [1677-8. 

might  hope  to  find  the  long-sought  path  to  China 
and  Japan,  and  secure  for  France  those  boundless 
regions  of  the  West,  in  whose  watery  highways  he 
saw  his  road  to  wealth,  renown,  and  power.  Again 
he  sailed  for  France,  bearing,  as  before,  letters  from 
Frontenac,  commending  him  to  the  king  and  the 
minister.  We  have  seen  that  he  was  denounced 
in  advance  as  a  madman  ;  but  Colbert  at  length 
gave  him  a  favoring  ear,  and  granted  his  petition. 
Perhaps  he  read  the  man  before  him,  living  only  in 
the  conception  and  achievement  of  great  designs, 
and  armed  with  a  courage  that  not  the  Fates  nor 
the  Furies  themselves  could  appall. 

La  Salle  was  empowered  to  pursue  his  proposed 
discoveries  at  his  own  expense,  on  condition  of 
completing  them  within  five  years ;  to  build  forts 
in  the  new-found  countries,  and  hold  possession  of 
them  on  terms  similar  to  those  already  granted  him 
in  the  case  of  Fort  Frontenac ;  and  to  monopolize 
the  trade  in  buffalo  skins,  a  new  branch  of  com- 
merce, by  which,  as  he  urged,  the  plains  of  the 
Mississippi  would  become  a  source  of  copious 
wealth.  But  he  was  expressly  forbidden  to  carry 
on  trade  with  the  Ottawas  and  other  tribes  of  the 
Lakes,  who  were  accustomed  to  bring  their  furs  to 
Montreal.1 

Again  La  Salle's  wealthy  relatives  came  to  his 
aid,  and  large  advances  of  money  were  made  to 
him.2     He  bought  supplies  and  engaged  men  ;  and 

1  Permission  au  Sr-  de  la  Salle  de  de'couvrir  la  partie  occidentale  de  la  Nou- 
velle  France,  12  May,  1678,  MS.  Signed  Colbert ;  not,  as  Charlevoix  says, 
Seignelay. 

2  In  the  memorial  which  La  Salle's  relations  presented  to  the  king 


1678.]  HENRI  DE   TONTY.  117 

in  July,  1678,  sailed  again  for  Canada,  with  thirty 
followers,  —  sailors,  carpenters,  and  laborers,  —  an 
abundant  store  of  anchors,  cables,  and  rigging ; 
iron  tools,  merchandise  for  trade,  and  all  things 
necessary  for  his  enterprise.  There  was  one  man 
of  his  party  worth  all  the  rest  combined.-  The 
Prince  de  Conti  had  a  protege  in  the  person  of 
Henri  de  Tonty,  an  Italian  officer,  one  of  whose 
hands  had  been  blown  off  by  a  grenade  in  the 
Sicilian  wars.  His  father,  who  had  been  Governor 
of  Gaeta,  but  who  had  come  to  France  in  conse- 
quence of  political  convulsions  in  Naples,  had  earned 
no  small  reputation  as  a  financier,  and  devised 
the  form  of  life  insurance  known  as  the  Tontine. 
The  Prince  de  Conti  recommended  the  son  to  La 
Salle ;  and,  as  the  event  proved,  he  could  not  have 
done  him  a  better  service.  La  Salle  learned  to 
know  his  new  lieutenant  on  the  voyage  across  the 
Atlantic  ;  and,  soon  after  reaching  Canada,  he  wrote 
of  him  to  his  patron  in  the  following  terms  :  "  His 
honorable  character  and  his  amiable  disposition 
were  well  known  to  you ;  but  perhaps  you  would 
not  have  thought  him  capable  of  doing  things  for 
which  a  strong  constitution,  an  acquaintance  with 
the  country,  and  the  use  of  both  hands  seemed  ab- 
solutely necessary.  Nevertheless,  his  energy  and 
address  make'him  equal  to  any  thing;  and  now,  at  a 

after  his  death,  they  say  that,  on  this  occasion,  "  ses  freres  et  ses  parents 
n'e"pargnerent  rien."  It  is  added  that  between  1678  and  1683  his  enter- 
prises cost  the  family  more  than  500,000  francs.  By  a  memorandum  of 
his  cousin,  Francois  Plet,  M.D.,  of  Paris,  it  appears  that  La  Salle  gave 
him,  on  the  27th  and  28th  of  June,  1678,  two  promissory  notes  of  9,805 
francs  and  1,676  francs  respectively. 


118  THE   GRAND   ENTERPRISE.  [1678. 

season  when  everybody  is  in  fear  of  the  ice,  he  is 
setting  out  to  begin  a  new  fort,  two  hundred  leagues 
from  this  place,  and  to  which  I  have  taken  the  lib- 
erty to  give  the  name  of  Fort  Conti.  It  is  situated 
near  that  great  cataract,  more  than  a  hundred  and 
twenty  toises  in  height,  by  which  the  lakes  of  high- 
er elevation  precipitate  themselves  into  Lake  Fron- 
tcnac  [Ontario].  From  there  one  goes  by  water, 
five  hundred  leagues,  to  the  place  where  Fort 
Dauphin  is  to  be  begun,  from  which  it  only  remains 
to  descend  the  great  river  of  the  Bay  of  St.  Esprit 
to  reach  the  Gulf  of  Mexico."  l 

Besides  Tonty,  La  Salle  found  another  ally, 
though  a  less  efficient  one,  in  the  person  of  the 
Sieur  de  la  Motte  ;  and  at  Quebec,  where  he  was 
detained  for  a  time,  he  found  Father  Louis  Henne- 
pin, who  had  come  down  from  Fort  Frontenac  to 
meet  him. 


1  Lettre  de  La  Salle  au  Prince  de  Conti,  31  Oct.  1678,  MS.  Fort  Conti 
was  to  have  been  built  on  the  site  of  the.  present  Fort  Niagara.  The 
name  of  Lac  de  Conti  was  given  by  La  Salle  to  Lake  Erie.  The  fort 
mentioned  as  Fort  Dauphin  was  built,  as  we  shall  see,  on  the  Illinois, 
though  under  another  name.  La  Salle,  deceived  by  Spanish  maps, 
thought  that  the  Mississippi  discharged  itself  into  the  Bay  of  St.  Esprit 
(Mobile  Bay). 

Henri  de  Tonty  signed  his  name  in  the  Gallicised,  and  not  in  the  orig- 
inal Italian  form,  Tonti.  He  wore  a  hand  of  iron  or  some  other  metal, 
which  was  usually  covered  with  a  glove.  La  Potherie  says  that  he  once 
or  twice  used  it  to  good  purpose  when  the  Indians  became  disorderly,  in 
breaking  the  heads  of  the  most  contumacious  or  knocking  out  their  teeth. 
Not  knowing  at  the  time  the  secret  of  the  unusual  efficacy  of  his  blows, 
they  regarded  him  as  a  "  medicine  "  of  the  first  order.  La  Potherie 
ascribes  the  loss  of  his  hand  to  a  sabre-cut  received  in  a  sortie  at  Messina  ; 
but  Tonty,  in  his  Memoire,  says,  as  above,  that  it  was  blown  off 


CHAPTER  X. 

1678-1679. 

LA   SALLE  AT  NIAGAEA. 

Father  Louis  Hennepin.  —  His  Past  Life;  his  Character.  —  Embark- 
ation. —  Niagara  Falls.  —  Indian  Jealousy.  —  La  Motte  and  the 
Senecas.  —  A  Disaster.  —  La  Salle  and  his  Followers. 

Hennepin  was  all  eagerness  to  join  in  the  ad- 
venture, and,  to  his  great  satisfaction,  La  Salle  gave 
him  a  letter  from  his  Provincial,  Father  Le  Fevre, 
containing  the  coveted  permission.  Whereupon, 
to  prepare  himself,  he  went  into  retreat,  at  the 
Recollet  convent  of  Quebec,  where  he  remained 
for  a  time  in  such  prayer  and  meditation  as  his 
nature,  the  reverse  of  spiritual,  would  permit. 
Frontenac,  always  partial  to  his  Order,  then 
invited  him  to  dine  at  the  chateau ;  and  having 
visited  the  Bishop  and  asked  his  blessing,  he  went 
down  to  the  lower  town  and  embarked.  His  vessel 
was  a  small  birch  canoe,  paddled  by  two  men. 
With  sandalled  feet,  a  coarse  gray  capote,  and 
peaked  hood,  the  cord  of  St.  Francis  about  his 
waist,  and  a  rosary  and  crucifix  hanging  at  his 
side,  the  Father  set  forth  on  his  memorable  journey. 
He  carried  with  him  the  furniture  of  a  portable 


120  LA   SALLE  AT   NIAGARA.  [1678. 

altar,  which  in  time  of  need  he  could  strap  on  his 
back,  like  a  knapsack. 

He  slowly  made  his  way  up  the  St.  Lawrence, 
stopping  here  and  there,  where  a  clearing  and  a 
few  log  houses  marked  the  feeble  beginning  of  a 
parish  and  a  seigniory.  The  settlers,  though  good 
Catholics,  were  too  few  and  too  poor  to  support  a 
priest,  and  hailed  the  arrival  of  the  friar  with  de- 
light. He  said  mass,  exhorted  a  little,  as  was  his 
custom,  and,  on  one  occasion,  baptized  a  child. 
At  length,  he  reached  Montreal,  where  the  enemies 
of  the  enterprise  enticed  away  his  two  canoe-men. 
He  succeeded  in  finding  two  others,  with  whom 
he  continued  his  voyage,  passed  the  rapids  of  the 
upper  St.  Lawrence,  and  reached  Fort  Fronte- 
nac  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  of  the  second  of 
November,  where  his  brethren  of  the  mission,  Bi- 
bourde  and  Buisset,  received  him  with  open  arms.1 
La  Salle,  Tonty,  La  Motte,  and  their  party,  who 
had  left  Quebec  a  few  days  after  him,  soon  appeared 
at  the  fort;  La  Salle  much  fatigued  and  worn  by 
the  hardships  of  the  way,  or  more  probably  by  the 
labors  and  anxieties  of  preparation.  He  had  no 
sooner  arrived,  than  he  sent  fifteen  men  in  canoes 
to  Lake  Michigan  and  the  Illinois,  to  open  a  trade 
with  the  Indians  and  collect  a  store  of  provisions. 
There  was  a  small  vessel  of  ten  tons  in  the  harbor; 
and  he  ordered  La  Motte  to  sail  in  her  for  Niagara, 
accompanied  by  Hennepin. 

This  bold,  hardy,  and  adventurous  friar,  the  his- 

1  Hennepin,  Description  de  la  Louisiane  (1683),  19.  Ibid.,  Voyage  Cu- 
rieux  (1704),  66.     Ribourde  bad  lately  arrived. 


1678.]  HENNEPIN.  121 

torian  of  the  expedition,  and  a  conspicuous  actor  in 
it,  has  unwittingly  painted  his  own  portrait  with 
tolerable  distinctness.  "  I  always,"  he  says,  "  felt 
a  strong  inclination  to  fly  from  the  world  and  live 
according  to  the  rules  of  a  pure  and  severe  virtue  ; 
and  it  was  with  this  view  that  I  entered  the  Order 
of  St.  Francis."  *  He  then  speaks  of  his  zeal  for 
the  saving  of  souls,  but  admits  that  a  passion  for 
travel  and  a  burning  desire  to  visit  strange  lands 
had  no  small  part  in  his  inclination  for  the  mis- 
sions.2 Being  in  a  convent  in  Artois,  his  superior 
sent  him  to  Calais,  at  the  season  of  the  herring- 
fishery,  to  beg  alms,  after  the  practice  of  the  Fran- 
ciscans. Here  and  at  Dunkirk,  he  made  friends  of 
the  sailors,  and  was  never  tired  of  their  stories.  So 
insatiable,  indeed,  was  his  appetite  for  them,  that 
"  often,"  he  says,  "  I  hid  myself  behind  tavern 
doors  while  the  sailors  were  telling  of  their  voy- 
ages. The  tobacco  smoke  made  me  very  sick  at 
the  stomach ;  but,  notwithstanding,  I  listened  atten- 
tively to  all  they  said  about  their  adventures  at  sea 
and  their  travels  in  distant  countries.  I  could  have 
passed  whole  days  and  nights  in  this  way  without 
eating."  3 

He  presently  set  out  on  a  roving  mission  through 
Holland ;  and  he  recounts  various  mishaps  which 
befell  him,  "  in  consequence  of  my  zeal  in  laboring 
for  the  saving  of  souls."  "  I  was  at  the  bloody 
fight  of  Seneff,"  he  pursues,  "  where  so  many  per- 

1  Hennepin,  Nonvelle  D&ouverte  (1697),  8. 

2  Ibid.,  Avant  Propos,  5. 

3  Ibid.,  Voyage  Curieux  (1704),  12. 

11 


122  LA  SALLE  AT  NIAGARA.  [1678. 

ished  by  fire  and  sword,  and  where  I  had  abundance 
of  work  in  comforting  and  consoling  the  poor 
wounded  soldiers.  After  undergoing  great  fatigues, 
and  running  extreme  danger  in  the  sieges  of  towns, 
in  the  trenches,  and  in  battles,  where  I  exposed 
myself  freely  for  the  salvation  of  others,  while  the 
soldiers  were  breathing  nothing  but  blood  and  car- 
nage, I  found  myself  at  last  in  a  way  of  satisfying 
my  old  inclination  for  travel." * 

He  got  leave  from  his  superiors  to  go  to  Canada, 
the  most  adventurous  of  all  the  missions ;  and  ac- 
cordingly sailed  in  1675,  in  the  ship  which  carried 
La  Salle,  who  had  just  obtained  the  grant  of  Fort 
Frontenac.  In  the  course  of  the  voyage,  he  took 
it  upon  him  to  reprove  a  party  of  girls  who  were 
amusing  themselves  and  a  circle  of  officers  and 
other  passengers  by  dancing  on  deck.  La  Salle, 
who  was  among  the  spectators,  was  annoyed  at 
Hennepin's  interference,  and  told  him  that  he  was 
behaving  like  a  pedagogue.  The  friar  retorted,  by 
alluding  —  unconsciously,  as  he  says  —  to  the 
circumstance  that  La  Salle  was  once  a  pedagogue 
himself,  having,  according  to  Hennepin,  been  for 
ten  or  twelve  years  teacher  of  a  class  in  a  Jesuit 
school.  La  Salle,  he  adds,  turned  pale  with  rage, 
and  never  forgave  him  to  his  dying  day,  but  always 
maligned  and  persecuted  him.2 

On  arriving  in  Canada,  he  was  sent  up  to  Fort 

i  Ibid.,  13. 

2  Ibid.,  Avis  au  Lecteur.  He  elsewhere  represents  himself  as  on  excel- 
lent terms  with  La  Salle ;  with  whom,  he  says,  he  used  to  read  histories 
of  travels  at  Fort  Frontenac,  after  which  they  discussed  together  their 
plans  of  discovery. 


1677-8.]  HENNEPIN.  123 

Frontenac,  as  a  missionary.  That  wild  and  remote 
post  was  greatly  to  his  liking.  He  planted  a  gigan- 
tic cross,  superintended  the  building  of  a  chapel, 
for  himself  and  his  colleague,  Buisset,  and  instruct- 
ed the  Iroquois  colonists  of  the  place.  He  visited, 
too,  the  neighboring  Indian  settlements,  paddling 
his  canoe  in  summer,  when  the  lake  was  open,  and 
journeying  in  winter  on  snow-shoes,  with  a  blanket 
slung  at  his  back.  His  most  noteworthy  journey 
was  one  which  he  made  in  the  winter,  —  apparently 
of  1677, —  with  a  soldier  of  the  fort.  They  crossed 
the  eastern  extremity  of  Lake  Ontario  on  snow- 
shoes,  and  pushed  southward  through  the  forests, 
towards  Onondaga ;  stopping  at  evening  to  dig  away 
the  snow,  which  was  several  feet  deep,  and  collect 
wood  for  their  fire,  which  they  were  forced  to  re- 
plenish repeatedly  during  the  night,  to  keep  them- 
selves from  freezing.  At  length  they  reached  the 
great  Onondaga  town,  where  the  Indians  were 
much  amazed  at  their  hardihood.  Thence  they 
proceeded  eastward,  to  the  Oneidas,  and  after- 
wards to  the  Mohawks,  who  regaled  them  with 
small  frogs,  pounded  up  with  a  porridge  of  Indian 
corn.  Here  Hennepin  found  the  Jesuit,  Bruyas, 
who  permitted  him  to  copy  a  dictionary  of  the  Mo- 
hawk language ]  which  he  had  compiled,  and  here 
he  presently  met  three  Dutchmen,  who  urged  him 
to  visit  the  neighboring  settlement  of  Orange,  or 

1  This  was  the  Ratines  Agnieres  of  Bruyas.  It  was  published  by  Mr. 
Shea  in  1862.  Hennepin  seems  to  have  studied  it  carefully  ;  for,  on  sev- 
eral occasions,  lie  makes  use  of  words  evidently  borrowed  from  it,  putting 
them  into  the  mouths  of  Indians  speaking  a  dialect  different  from  that  of 
the  Agniers,  or  Mohawks. 


124  LA   SALLE  AT  NIAGARA.  [1678. 

Albany,  an  invitation  which  he  seems  to  have  de- 
clined.1 

They  were  pleased  with  him,  he  says,  because 
he  spoke  Dutch.  Bidding  them  farewell,  he  tied 
on  his  snow-shoes  again,  and  returned  with  his  com- 
panion to  Fort  Frontenac.  Thus  he  inured  him- 
self to  the  hardships  of  the  woods,  and  prepared  for 
the  execution  of  the  grand  plan  of  discovery  which 
he  calls  his  own ;  "  an  enterprise,"  to  borrow  his 
own  words,  "  capable  of  terrifying  anybody  but 
me." 2  When  the  later  editions  of  his  book  ap- 
peared, doubts  had  been  expressed  of  his  veracity. 
"  I  here  protest  to  you,  before  God,"  he  writes, 
addressing  the  reader,  "  that  my  narrative  is  faithful 
and  sincere,  and  that  you  may  believe  every  thing 
related  in  it." 3  And  yet,  as  we  shall  see,  this  Rev- 
erend Father  was  the  most  impudent  of  liars ;  and 
the  narrative  of  which  he  speaks  is  a  rare  monu- 
ment of  brazen  mendacity.  Hennepin,  however, 
had  seen  and  dared  much :  for  among  his  many 
failings  fear  had  no  part ;  and  where  his  vanity 
or  his  spite  was  not  involved,  he  often  told  the 
truth.  His  books  have  their  value,  with  all  their 
enormous  fabrications.4 

La  Motte  and  Hennepin,  with  sixteen  men,  went 

1  Compare  Brodhead  in  Hist.  Mag.,  x.  268. 

2  "  Une  entreprise  capable  d'epouvanter  tout  autre  que  moi."  —  Hen- 
nepin, Voyage  Curieux,  Avant  Propos  (1704). 

3  "  Je  vous  proteste  ici  devant  Dieu,  que  ma  Relation  est  fidele  et 
sincere,"  etc.  —  Ibid.,  Avis  au  Lecteur. 

4  The  nature  of  these  fabrications  will  be  shown  hereafter.  They 
occur,  not  in  the  early  editions  of  Hennepin's  narrative,  which  are  com- 
paratively truthful,  but  in  the  edition  of  1697  and  those  which  followed. 
La  Salle  was  dead  at  the  time  of  their  publication. 


1678.]  VOYAGE  ON  LAKE   ONTARIO.  125 

on  board  the  little  vessel  of  ten  tons,  which  lay  at 
Fort  Frontenac.  The  friar's  two  brethren,  Buisset 
and  Eibourde,  threw  their  arms  about  his  neck  as 
they  bade  him  farewell ;  while  his  Indian  proselytes, 
learning  whither  he  was  bound,  stood  with  their 
hands  pressed  upon  their  mouths,  in  amazement  at 
the  perils  which  awaited  their  ghostly  instructor. 
La  Salle,  with  the  rest  of  the  party,  was  to  follow 
as  soon  as  he  could  finish  his  preparations.  It  was 
a  boisterous  and  gusty  day,  the  eighteenth  of  No- 
vember. The  sails  were  spread  ;  the  shore  receded, 
—  the  stone  walls  of  the  fort,  the  huge  cross  that 
the  friar  had  reared,  the  wigwams,  the  settlers' 
cabins,  the  group  of  staring  Indians  on  the  strand. 
The  lake  was  rough ;  and  the  men,  crowded  in  so 
small  a  craft,  grew  nervous  and  uneasy.  They 
hugged  the  northern  shore,  to  escape  the  fury  of 
the  wind  which  blew  savagely  from  the  north-east; 
while  the  long,  gray  sweep  of  naked  forests  on  their 
right  betokened  that  winter  was  fast  closing  in. 
On  the  twenty-sixth,  they  reached  the  neighborhood 
of  the  Indian  town  of  Taiaiagon,1  not  far  from  To- 
ronto ;  and  ran  their  vessel,  for  safety,  into  the 
mouth  of  a  river,  —  probably  the  Humber,  — 
where  the  ice  closed  about  her,  and  they  were 
forced  to  cut  her  out  with  axes.  On  the  fifth  of 
December,  they  attempted  to  cross  to  the  mouth  of 
the  Niagara ;  but  darkness  overtook  them,  and  they 
spent  a  comfortless  night,  tossing  on  the  troubled 

1  This  place  is  laid  down  on  a  manuscript  map  sent  to  France  by  the 
Intendant  Duchesneau,  and  now  preserved  in  the  Archives  de  la  Marine, 
and  also  on  several  other  contemporary  maps. 

11* 


126  LA  SALLE  AT  NIAGAEA.  [1678. 

lake,  five  or  six  miles  from  shore.  In  the  morning, 
they  entered  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara,  and  landed 
on  the  point  at  its  eastern  side,  where  now  stand  the 
historic  ramparts  of  Fort  Niagara.  Here  they  found 
a  small  village  of  Senecas,  attracted  hither  by  the 
fisheries,  who  gazed  with  curious  eyes  at  the  vessel, 
and  listened  in  wonder  as  the  voyagers  sang  Te 
Deum,  in  gratitude  for  their  safe  arrival. 

Hennepin,  with  several  others,  now  ascended  the 
river,  in  a  canoe,  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain  ridge 
of  Lewiston,  which,  stretching  on  the  right  hand 
and  on  the  left,  forms  the  acclivity  of  a  vast  plateau, 
rent  with  the  mighty  chasm,  along  which,  from  this 
point  to  the  cataract,  seven  miles  above,  rush,  with 
the  fury  of  an  Alpine  torrent,  the  gathered  waters 
of  four  inland  oceans.  To  urge  the  canoe  farther 
was  impossible.  He  landed,  with  his  companions, 
on  the  west  bank,  near  the  foot  of  that  part  of  the 
ridge  now  called  Queenstown  Heights,  climbed  the 
steep  ascent,  and  pushed  through  the  wintry  forest 
on  a  tour  of  exploration.  On  his  left  sank  the 
cliffs,  the  furious  river  raging  below ;  till  at  length, 
in  primeval  solitudes,  unprofaned  as  yet  by  the  pet- 
tiness of  man,  the  imperial  cataract  burst  upon  his 
sight.1 

1  Hennepin's  account  of  the  falls  and  river  of  Niagara  —  especially  his 
second  account,  on  his  return  from  the  West  —  is  very  minute,  and  on 
the  whole  very  accurate.  He  indulges  in  gross  exaggeration  as  to  the 
height  of  the  cataract,  which,  in  the  edition  of  1683,  he  states  at  five  hun- 
dred feet,  and  raises  to  six  hundred  in  that  of  1697.  He  also  says  that 
there  was  room  for  four  carriages  to  pass  abreast  under  the  American  Fall 
without  being  wet.  This  is,  of  course,  an  exaggeration  at  the  best ;  but  it 
is  extremely  probable  that  a  great  change  has  taken  place  since  his  time. 
He  speaks  of  a  small  lateral  fall  at  the  west  side  of  the  Horse  Shoe  Fall 


1678.1  INDIAN  JEALOUSY.  127 

The  explorers  passed  three  miles  beyond  it,  and 
encamped  for  the  night  on  the  banks  of  Chippewa 
Creek,  scraping  away  the  snow,  which  was  a  foot 
deep,  in  order  to  kindle  a  fire.  In  the  morning 
they  retraced  their  steps,  startling  a  number  of  deer 
and  wild  turkeys  on  their  way,  and  rejoined  their 
companions  at  the  mouth  of  the  river. 

It  was  La  Salle's  purpose  to  build  a  palisade  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara;  and  the  work  was 
now  begun,  though  it  was  necessary  to  use  hot 
water  to  soften  the  frozen  ground.  But  frost  was 
not  the  only  obstacle.  The  Senecas  of  the  neigh- 
boring village  betrayed  a  sullen  jealousy  at  a  design 
which,  indeed,  boded  them  no  good.  Niagara  was 
the  key  to  the  four  great  lakes  above,  and  whoever 
held  possession  of  it  could  in  no  small  measure 
control  the  fur-trade  of  the  interior.  Occupied  by 
the  French,  it  would,  in  time  of  peace,  intercept  the 
trade  which  the  Iroquois  carried  on  between  the 
Western  Indians,  and  the  Dutch  and  English  at 
Albany,  and  in  time  of  war  threaten  them  with 
serious  danger.      La  Motte  saw  the  necessity  of 

which  does  not  now  exist.  Table  Rock,  now  destroyed,  is  distinctly- 
figured  in  his  picture.  He  says  that  he  descended  the  cliffs  on  the  west 
side  to  the  foot  of  the  cataract,  but  that  no  human  being  can  get  down  on 
the  east  side. 

The  name  of  Niagara,  written  Onguiaahra  by  Lalemant  in  1641,  and 
Ongiara  by  Sanson,  on  his  map  of  1657,  is  used  by  Hennepin  in  its  pres- 
ent form.  His  description  of  the  falls  is  the  earliest  known  to  exist. 
They  are  clearly  indicated  on  the  map  of  Champlain,  1632.  For  early 
references  to  them,  see  "  The  Jesuits  in  North  America,"  143.  A  brief 
but  curious  notice  of  them  is  given  by  Gendron,  Quelques  Particularitez  du 
Pays  des  Hurons,  1659.  The  indefatigable  Dr.  O'Callaghan  has  discovered 
thirty-nine  distinct  forms  of  the  name  Niagara.  —  Index  to  Colonial  Docu- 
ments of  New  York,  465.  It  is  of  Iroquois  origin,  and  in  the  Mohawk 
dialect  is  pronounced  Nykgarah. 


128  LA   SALLE  AT  NIAGARA.  [1678. 

conciliating  these  formidable  neighbors,  and,  if  pos- 
sible, cajoling  them  to  give  their  consent  to  the 
plan.  La  Salle,  indeed,  had  instructed  him  to  that 
effect.  He  resolved  on  a  journey  to  the  great  vil- 
lage of  the  Senecas,  and  called  on  Hennepin,  who 
was  busied  in  building  a  bark  chapel  for  himself, 
to  accompany  him.  They  accordingly  set  out  with 
several  men  well  armed  and  equipped,  and  bearing 
at  their  backs  presents  of  very  considerable  value. 
The  village  was  beyond  the  Genesee,  south-east 
of  the  site  of  Rochester.1  After  a  march  of  five 
days,  they  reached  it  on  the  last  day  of  December. 
They  were  conducted  to  the  lodge  of  the  great 
chief,  where  they  were  beset  by  a  staring  crowd 
of  women  and  children.  Two  Jesuits,  Raffeix  and 
Julien  Gamier,  were  in  the  village ;  and  their  pres- 
ence boded  no  good  for  the  embassy.  La  Motte, 
who  seems  to  have  had  little  love  for  priests  of  any 
kmd,  was  greatly  annoyed  at  seeing  them ;  and 
when  the  chiefs  assembled  to  hear  what  he  had  to 
say,  he  insisted  that  the  two  fathers  should  leave 
the  council-house.  At  this,  Hennepin,  out  of 
respect  for  his  cloth,  thought  it  befitting  that  he 
should  retire  also.  The  chiefs,  forty- two  in  num- 
ber squatted  on  the  ground,  arrayed  in  ceremo- 
nial robes  of  beaver,  wolf,  or  black  squirrel  skin. 
"  The  senators  of  Venice,"  writes  Hennepin,  "  do 
not  look  more  grave  or  speak  more  deliberately 
than  the  counsellors  of  the  Iroquois."     La  Motte's 

1  Near  the  town  of  Victor.  It  is  laid  down  on  the  map  of  Galince,  and 
other  unpublished  maps.  Compare  Marshall,  Historical  Sketches  of  the 
Niagara  Frontier,  14. 


1679.J  A  DISASTER.  129 

interpreter  harangued  the  attentive  conclave,  placed 
gift  after  gift  at  their  feet,  —  coats,  scarlet  cloth, 
hatchets,  knives,  and  beads,  —  and  used  all  his  elo- 
quence to  persuade  them  that  the  building  of  a  fort 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Niagara,  and  a  vessel  on  Lake 
Erie,  were  measures  vital  to  their  interest.  They 
gladly  took  the  gifts,  but  answered  the  interpreter's 
speech  with  evasive  generalities  ;  and  having  been 
entertained  with  the  burning  of  an  Indian  prisoner, 
the  discomfited  embassy  returned,  half-famished,  to 
Niagara. 

A  few  days  after,  Hennepin  was  near  the  shore 
of  the  lake,  when  he  heard  a  well-known  voice,  and 
to  his  surprise  saw  La  Salle  approaching.  This 
resolute  child  of  misfortune  had  already  begun  to. 
taste  the  bitterness  of  his  destiny.  Sailing  with 
Tonty  from  Fort  Frontenac,  to  bring  supplies  to  the 
advanced  party  at  Niagara,  he  had  been  detained 
by  contrary  winds  when  within  a  few  hours  of 
his  destination.  Anxious  to  reach  it  speedily, 
he  left  the  vessel  in  charge  of  the  pilot,  who  dis- 
obeyed his  orders,  and  ended  by  wrecking  it  at  a 
spot  nine  or  ten  leagues  west  of  Niagara.1  The 
provisions  and  merchandise  were  lost,  though  the 
crew  saved  the  anchors  and  cables  destined  for 
the  vessel  which  La  Salle  proposed  to  build  for  the 


1  Tonty,  Me'moire  envo)/€  en  1693  sur  la  D&ouverte  du  Mississippi  et  des 
Nations  voisines,  par  le  Sieur  de  la  Halle,  en  1078,  et  depuis  sa  mort  par  le 
Sieur  de  Tonty.  The  published  work  bearing  Tonty's  name  is  a  compi- 
lation full  of  misstatements,  lie  disowned  its  authorship.  Its  authority 
will  not  be  relied  on  in  this  narrative.  A  copy  of  the  true  document 
from  the  original,  signed  by  Tonty,  in  the  Archives  de  la  Marine,  is 
before  me. 


130  LA   SALLE   AT  NIAGARA.  [1679. 

navigation  of  the  Upper  Lakes.  He  had  had  a 
meeting  with  the  Senecas,  before  the  disaster ;  and, 
more  fortunate  than  La  Motte,  —  for  his  influence 
over  Indians  was  great,  —  had  persuaded  them  to 
consent,  for  a  time,  to  the  execution  of  his  plans. 
They  required,  however,  that  he  should  so  far 
modify  them  as  to  content  himself  with  a  stockaded 
warehouse,  in  place  of  a  fort,  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Niagara. 

The  loss  of  the  vessel  threw  him  into  extreme 
perplexity,  and,  as  Hennepin  says,  "  would  have 
made  anybody  but  him  give  up  the  enterprise." 1 
The  whole  party  were  now  gathered  within  the 
half-finished  palisades  of  Niagara  ;  a  motley  crew 
of  French,  Flemings,  and  Italians,  all  mutually 
jealous.  Some  of  the  men  had  been  tampered  with 
by  La  Salle's  enemies.  None  of  them  seem  to  have 
had  much  heart  for  the  enterprise.  La  Motte  had 
gone  back  to  Canada.  He  had  been  a  soldier,  and 
perhaps  a  good  one  ;  but  he  had  already  broken 
down  under  the  hardships  of  these  winter  journey- 
ings.  La  Salle,  seldom  happy  in  the  choice  of  subor- 
dinates, had,  perhaps,  in  all  his  company  but  one 
man  in  whom  he  could  confidently  trust ;  and  this 
was  Tonty.  He  and  Hennepin  were  on  indifferent 
terms.  Men  thrown  together  in  a  rugged  enter- 
prise like  this  quickly  learn  to  know  each  other ; 
and  the  vain  and  assuming  friar  was  not  likely  to 

1  Description  dela  Louisiane  (1683),  41.  It  is  characteristic  of  Hennepin, 
that,  in  the  editions  of  his  book  published  after  La  Salle's  death,  he  sub- 
stitutes for  "anybody  but  him,"  "anybody  but  those  who  had  formed  so 
generous  a  design,"  meaning  to  include  himself,  though  he  lost  nothing 
by  the  disaster,  and  had  not  formed  the  design. 


1679.]  TONTY   AND   HENNEPIN.  131 

commend  himself  to  La  Salle's  brave  and  loyal 
lieutenant.  Hennepin  says  that  it  was  La  Salle's 
policy  to  govern  through  the  dissensions  of  his  fol- 
lowers ;  and,  from  whatever  cause,  it  is  certain 
that  those  beneath  him  were  rarely  in  perfect 
harmony. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

1679. 

THE   LAUNCH   OF   THE   "GRIFFIN." 

The  Niagara  Portage. — A  Vessel  on  the  Stocks.  —  Suffering  and 
Discontent.  —  La    Salle's      Winter      Journey.  —  The      Vessel 

LAUNCHED.  — FltESH    DISASTERS. 

A  more  important  work  than  that  of  the  ware- 
house at  the  mouth  of  the  river  was  now  to  be  be- 
gun. This  was  the  building  of  a  vessel  above  the 
cataract.  The  small  craft  which  had  brought  La 
Motte  and  Hennepin  with  their  advanced  party  had 
been  hauled  to  the  foot  of  the  rapids  at  Lewiston, 
and  drawn  ashore  with  a  capstan  to  save  her  from 
the  drifting  ice.  Her  lading  was  taken  out,  and 
must  now  be  carried  beyond  the  cataract  to  the 
calm  water  above.  The  distance  to  the  destined 
point  was  at  least  twelve  miles,  and  the  steep 
heights  above  Lewiston  must  first  be  climbed.  This 
heavy  task  was  accomplished  on  the  twenty-second 
of  January.  The  level  of  the  plateau  was  reached, 
and  the  file  of  burdened  men,  some  thirty  in  num- 
ber, toiled  slowly  on  its  way  over  the  snowy  plains 
and  through  the  gloomy  forests  of  spruce  and  naked 
oak   trees ;    while  Hennepin  plodded  through  the 


1679.]  SHIP-BUILDIXG.  133 

drifts  with  his  portable  altar  lashed  fast  to  his  back. 
They  came  at  last  to  the  mouth  of  a  stream  which 
entered  the  Niagara  two  leagues  above  the  cataract, 
and  which  was  undoubtedly  that  now  called  Cayuga 
Creek.1 

1  It  has  been  a  matter  of  debate  on  which  side  of  the  Niagara  the  first 
vessel  on  the  Upper  Lakes  was  built.  A  close  study  of  Hennepin,  and  a 
careful  examination  of  the  localities,  have  convinced  me  that  the  spot  was 
that  indicated  above.  Hennepin  repeatedly  alludes  to  a  large  detached 
rock  rising  out  of  the  water  at  the  foot  of  the  rapids  above  Lewiston,  on 
the  west  side  of  the  river.  This  rock  may  still  be  seen,  immediately 
under  the  western  end  of  the  Lewiston  suspension-bridge.  Persons  living 
in  the  neighborhood  remember  that  a  ferry-boat  used  to  pass  between  it 
and  the  cliffs  of  the  western  shore ;  but  it  has  since  been  undermined 
by  the  current  and  has  inclined  in  that  direction,  so  that  a  consid- 
erable part  of  it  is  submerged,  while  the  gravel  and  earth  thrown  down 
from  the  cliff  during  the  building  of  the  bridge  has  filled  the  intervening 
channel.  Opposite  to  this  rock,  and  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  says 
Hennepin,  are  three  mountains,  about  two  leagues  below  the  cataract.  — 
Nouveau  Voyage  (1704),  462, 466.  To  these  "  three  mountains,"  as  well  as 
to  the  rock,  he  frequently  alludes.  They  are  also  spoken  of  by  La  Hon- 
tan,  who  clearly  indicates  their  position.  They  consist  in  the  three  suc- 
cessive grades  of  the  acclivity :  first,  that  which  rises  from  the  level  of 
the  water,  forming  the  steep  and  lofty  river  bank  ;  next,  an  intermediate 
ascent,  crowned  by  a  sort  of  terrace,  where  the  tired  men  could  find  a 
second  resting-place  and  lay  down  their  burdens,  whence  a  third  effort 
carried  them  with  difficulty  to  the  level  top  of  the  plateau.  That  this 
was  the  actual  "  portage  "  or  carrying  place  of  the  travellers  is  shown  by 
Hennepin  (1704),  114,  who  describes  the  carrying  of  anchors  and  other 
heavy  articles  up  these  heights  in  August,  1679.  La  Hontan  also  passed 
the  falls  by  way  of  the  "  three  mountains  "  eight  years  later.  —  La  Hontan, 
(1703),  106.  It  is  clear,  then,  that  the  portage  was  on  the  east  side, 
whence  it  would  be  safe  to  conclude  that  the  vessel  was  built  on  the 
same  side.  Hennepin  says  that  she  was  built  at  the  mouth  of  a  stream 
{riviere)  entering  the  Niagara  two  leagues  above  the  falls.  Except- 
ing one  or  two  small  brooks,  there  is  no  stream  on  the  west  side  but 
Chippewa  Creek,  which  Hennepin  had  visited  and  correctly  placed  at 
about  a  league  from  the  cataract.  His  distances  on  the  Niagara  are 
usually  correct.  On  the  east  side  there  is  a  stream  which  perfectly 
answers  the  conditions.  This  is  Cayuga  Creek,  two  leagues  above  the 
Falls.  Immediately  in  front  of  it  is  an  island  about  a  mile  long,  separated 
from  the  shore  by  a  narrow  and  deep  arm  of  the  Niagara,  into  which 
Cayuga  Creek  discharges  itself.  The  place  is  so  obviously  suited  to  build- 
ing and  launching  a  vessel,  that,  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  the 

12 


134  THE  LAUNCH   OF   THE   "GRIFFIN."  [1679. 

Trees  were  felled,  the  place  cleared,  and  the 
master-carpenter  set  his  ship-builders  at  work. 
Meanwhile  two  Mohegan  hunters,  attached  to  the 
party,  made  bark  wigwams  to  lodge  the  men. 
Hennepin  had  his  chapel,  apparently  of  the  same 
material,  where  he  placed  his  altar,  and  on  Sun- 
days and  saints'  days  said  mass,  preached,  and  ex- 
horted ;  while  some  of  the  men,  who  knew  the 
Gregorian  chant,  lent  their  aid  at  the  service. 
When  the  carpenters  were  ready  to  lay  the  keel  of 
the  vessel,  La  Salle  asked  the  friar  to  drive  the  first 
bolt ;  "  but  the  modesty  of  my  religious  profession," 
he  says,  "  compelled  me  to  decline  this  honor." 

Fortunately,  it  was  the  hunting-season  of  the 
Iroquois,  and  most  of  the  Seneca  warriors  were  in 
the  forests  south  of  Lake  Erie  ;  yet  enough  re- 
mained to  cause  serious  uneasiness.  They  loitered 
sullenly  about  the  place,  expressing  their  displeas- 
ure at  the  proceedings  of  the  French.  One  of 
them,  pretending  to  be  drunk,  attacked  the  black- 
smith and  tried  to  kill  him  ;  but  the  Frenchman, 
brandishing  a  red-hot  bar  of  iron,  held  him  at  bay 
till  Hennepin  ran  to  the  rescue,  when,  as  he  de- 
clares, the  severity  of  his  rebuke  caused  the  savage 
to  desist.1     The  work  of  the  ship-builders  advanced 

government  of  the  United  States  chose  it  for  the  construction  of  a  schooner 
to  carry  supplies  to  the  garrisons  of  the  Upper  Lakes.  The  neighboring 
village  now  hears  the  name  of  La  Salle. 

In  examining  this  and  other  localities  on  the  Niagara,  I  have  been 
greatly  aided  by  my  friend,  0.  H.  Marshall,  Esq.,  of  Buffalo,  who  is  un- 
rivalled in  his  knowledge  of  the  history  and  traditions  of  the  Niagara 
frontier. 

1  Hennepin  (1704),  97.  On  a  paper  drawn  up  at  the  instance  of  the 
Intendant  Duchesneau,  the  names  of  the  greater  number  of  La  Salle's 


1679.J  HUNGER   AND   MUTINY.  135 

rapidly ;  and  when  the  Indian  visitors  beheld  the 
vast  ribs  of  the  wooden  monster,  their  jealousy  was 
redoubled.  A  squaw  told  the  French  that  they 
meant  to  burn  the  vessel  on  the  stocks.  All  now 
stood  anxiously  on  the  watch.  Cold,  hunger,  and 
discontent  found  imperfect  antidotes  in  Tonty's 
energy   and   Hennepin's   sermons. 

La  Salle  was  absent,  and  his  lieutenant  com- 
manded in  his  place.  Hennepin  says  that  Tonty 
was  jealous  because  he,  the  friar,  kept  a  journal, 
and  that  he  was  forced  to  use  all  manner  of  just 
precautions  to  prevent  the  Italian  from  seizing  it. 
The  men,  being  half-starved  in  consequence  of  the 
loss  of  their  provisions  on  Lake  Ontario,  were  rest- 
less and  moody  ;  and  their  discontent  was  fomented 
by  one  of  their  number,  who  had  very  probably 
been  tampered  with  by  La  Salle's  enemies.1  The 
Senecas  refused  to  supply  them  with  corn,  and  the 
frequent  exhortations  of  the  Recollet  father  proved 
an  insufficient  substitute.  In  this  extremity,  the 
two  Mohegans  did  excellent  service  ;  bringing  deer 
and  other  game,  which  relieved  the  most  pressing 
wants  of  the  party  and  went  far  to  restore  their 
cheerfulness. 

La  Salle,  meanwhile,  was  making  his  way  back 
on  foot  to  Fort  Frontenac,  a  distance  of  some  two 


men  are  preserved.  These  agree  with  those  given  by  Hennepin  :  thus 
the  master-carpenter,  whom  lie  culls  Maitre  Moyse,  appears  as  Moise  Ilil- 
laret,  and  the  blacksmith,  whom  lie  calls  La  Forge,  is  mentioned  as  — 
(illegible)  dii  In  Forge. 

1  "  This  bad  man,"  says  Hennepin,  "  would  infallibly  have  debauched 
our  workmen,  if  I  had  not  reassured  them  by  the  exhortations  which  I 
made  them  on  Fete  Days  and  Sundays,  after  divine  service."  (1701),  (J8. 


136  THE  LAUNCH   OF   THE   "GRIFFIN."  [1679. 

hundred  and  fifty  miles,  through  the  snow-encum- 
bered forests  of  the  Iroquois  and  over  the  ice  of 
Lake  Ontario.  The  wreck  of  his  vessel  made  it 
necessary  that  fresh  supplies  should  be  sent  to 
Niagara ;  and  the  condition  of  his  affairs,  embar- 
rassed by  the  great  expenses  of  the  enterprise,  de- 
manded his  presence  at  Fort  Frontenac.  Two  men 
attended  him,  and  a  dog  dragged  his  baggage  on  a 
sledge.  For  food,  they  had  only  a  bag  of  parched 
corn,  which  failed  them  two  days  before  they 
reached  the  fort;  and  they  made  the  rest  of  the 
journey  fasting. 

During  his  absence,  Tonty  finished  the  vessel, 
which  was  of  about  forty-five  tons  burden.1  As 
spring  opened,  she  was  ready  for  launching.  The 
friar  pronounced  his  blessing  on  her  ;  the  assem- 
bled company  sang  Te  Deum  ;  cannon  were  fired  ; 
and  French  and  Indians,  warmed  alike  by  a  gen- 
erous gift  of  brandy,  shouted  and  yelped  in  chorus 
as  she  glided  into  the  Niagara.  Her  builders  towed 
her  out  and  anchored  her  in  the  stream,  safe  at  last 
from  incendiary  hands,  and  then,  swinging  their 
hammocks  under  her  deck,  slept  in  peace,  beyond 
reach  of  the  tomahawk.  The  Indians  gazed  on 
her  with  amazement.  Five  small  cannon  looked 
out  from  her  portholes  ;  and  on  her  prow  was 
carved  a  portentous  monster,  the  Griffin,  whose 
name  she  bore,  in  honor  of  the  armorial  bearings 
of  Frontenac.     La  Salle  had   often  been  heard   to 


1  Hennepin  (1683),  46.  In  the  edition  of  1697,  he  says  that  it  was  of 
sixty  tons.  I  prefer  to  follow  the  earlier  and  more  trustworthy  nar- 
rative. 


1679.]  RECOLLET   FATHERS.  137 

say  that  he  would  make  the  griffin  fly  above  the 
crows,  or,  in  other  words,  make  Frontenac  triumph 
over  the  Jesuits. 

They  now  took  her  up  the  river,  and  made  her 
fast  below  the  swift  current  at  Black  Rock.  Here 
they  finished  her  equipment,  and  waited  for  La 
Salle's  return  ;  but  the  absent  commander  did  not 
appear.  The  spring  and  more  than  half  of  the 
summer  had  passed  before  they  saw  him  again. 
At  length,  early  in  August,  he  arrived  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Niagara,  bringing  three  more  friars  ;  for, 
though  no  friend  of  the  Jesuits,  he  was  zealous  for 
the  Faith,  and  was  rarely  without  a  missionary  in 
his  journeyings.  Like  Hennepin,  the  three  friars 
were  all  Flemings.  One  of  them,  Melithon  Watteau, 
was  to  remain  at  Niagara ;  the  others,  Zenobe 
Membre  and  Gabriel  Ribourde,  were  to  preach  the 
Faith  among  the  tribes  of  the  West.  Ribourde 
was  a  hale  and  cheerful  old  man  of  sixty-four.  He 
went  four  times  up  and  down  the  Lewiston  heights, 
while  the  men  were  climbing  the  steep  pathway 
with  their  loads.  It  required  four  of  them,  well 
stimulated  with  brandy,  to  carry  up  the  principal 
anchor  destined  for  the  "  Griffin." 

La  Salle  brought  a  tale  of  disaster.  His  ene- 
mies, bent  on  ruining  the  enterprise,  had  given  out 
that  he  was  embarked  on  a  harebrained  venture, 
from  which  he  would  never  return.  His  creditors, 
excited  by  rumors  set  afloat  to  that  end,  had  seized 
on  all  his  property  in  the  settled  parts  of  Canada, 
though    his    seigniory    of    Fort    Frontenac    alone 

would  have  more  than  sufficed  to  pay  all  his  debts. 

12* 


138  THE   LAUNCH   OF   THE   "GRIFFIN."  [1679. 

There  was  no  remedy.  To  defer  the  enterprise 
would  have  been  to  give  his  adversaries  the  triumph 
that  they  sought ;  and  he  hardened  himself  against 
the  blow  with  his  usual  stoicism. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

1679. 

LA  SALLE  ON  THE  UPPER  LAKES. 

The  Voyage  of  the  "  Griffin."  —  Detroit.  —  A  Storm.  —  St.  Ignace  of 

MlCHILLIMACKINAC.  —  RIVALS       AND      ENEMIES.  —  LAKE       MICHIGAN.  — 

Hardships.  —  A  Threatened  Fight.  —  Fort  Miami.  —  Tonty's  Mis- 
fortunes. —  Forebodings. 

The  "  Griffin  "  had  lain  moored  by  the  shore,  so 
near  that  Hennepin  could  preach  on  Sundays  from 
the  deck  to  the  men  encamped  along  the  bank. 
She  was  now  forced  up  against  the  current  with 
tow-ropes  and  sails,  till  she  reached  the  calm  en- 
trance of  Lake  Erie.  On  the  seventh  of  August, 
the  voyagers,  thirty-four  in  all,  embarked,  sang  Te 
Deum,  and  fired  their  cannon.  A  fresh  breeze 
sprang  up  ;  and  with  swelling  canvas  the  "  Griffin  " 
ploughed  the  virgin  waves  of  Lake  Erie,  where  sail 
was  never  seen  before.  For  three  days  they  held 
their  course  over  these  unknown  waters,  and  on  the 
fourth  turned  northward  into  the  strait  of  Detroit. 
Here,  on  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left,  lay  verdant 
prairies,  dotted  with  groves  and  bordered  with  lofty 
forests.  They  saw  walnut,  chestnut,  and  wild  plum 
trees,  and  oaks  festooned  with  grape-vines  ;  herds 
of  deer,   and    flocks   of   swans   and   wild    turkeys. 


140  LA   SALLE   ON  THE   UPPER  LAKES.  [1679. 

The  bulwarks  of  the  "  Griffin "  were  plentifully 
hung  with  game  which  the  men  killed  on  shore,  and 
among  the  rest  with  a  number  of  bears,  much  com- 
mended by  Hennepin  for  their  want  of  ferocity  and 
the  excellence  of  their  flesh.  "  Those,"  he  says, 
"  who  will  one  day  have  the  happiness  to  possess 
this  fertile  and  pleasant  strait,  will  be  very  much 
obliged  to  those  who  have  shown  them  the  way." 
They  crossed  Lake  St.  Clair,1  and  still  sailed  north- 
ward against  the  current,  till  now,  sparkling  iu  the 
sun,  Lake  Huron  spread  before  them  like  a  sea. 

For  a  time,  they  bore  on  prosperously.  Then 
the  wind  died  to  a  calm,  then  freshened  to  a  gale, 
then  rose  to  a  furious  tempest ;  and  the  vessel 
tossed  wildly  among  the  short,  steep,  perilous  waves 
of  the  raging  lake.  Even  La  Salle  called  on  his 
followers  to  commend  themselves  to  Heaven.  All 
fell  to  their  prayers  but  the  godless  pilot,  who  was 
loud  in  complaint  against  his  commander  for  hav- 
ing brought  him,  after  the  honor  he  had  won  on 
the  ocean,  to  drown  at  last  ignominiously  in  fresh 
water.  The  rest  clamored  to  the  saints.  St.  An- 
thony of  Padua  was  promised  a  chapel  to  be  built 
in  his  honor,  if  he  would  but  save  them  from  their 
jeopardy  ;  while  in  the  same  breath  La  Salle  and 
the  friars  declared  him  patron  of  their  great  enter- 
prise.2 The  saint  heard  their  prayers.  The  obe- 
dient winds  were  tamed  ;  and  the  "  Griffin  "  plunged 
on  her  way  through  foaming  surges  that  still  grew 

1  They  named  it  Sainte  Claire,  of  which  the  present  name  is  a  perver- 
sion. 

2  Hennepin  (1683),  58. 


1679.]  INTRIGUES.  141 

calmer  as  she  advanced.  Now  the  sun  shone  forth 
on  woody  islands,  Bois  Blanc  and  Mackinaw  and 
the  distant  Manitoulins,  —  on  the  forest  wastes  of 
Michigan  and  the  vast  blue  bosom  of  the  angry 
lake  ;  and  now  her  port  was  won,  and  she  found  her 
rest  behind  the  point  of  St.  Ignace  of  Michillimack- 
inac,  floating  in  that  tranquil  cove  where  crystal 
waters  cover  but  cannot  hide  the  pebbly  depths  be- 
neath. Before  her  rose  the  house  and  chapel  of 
the  Jesuits,  enclosed  with  palisades  ;  on  the  right, 
the  Huron  village,  with  its  bark  cabins  and  its 
fence  of  tall  pickets  ;  on  the  left,  the  square  com- 
pact houses  of  the  French  traders  ;  and,  not  far  off, 
the  clustered  wigwams  of  an  Ottawa  village.1  Here 
was  a  centre  of  the  Jesuit  missions,  and  a  centre  of 
the  Indian  trade  ;  and  here,  under  the  shadow  of 
the  cross,  was  much  sharp  practice  in  the  service 
of  Mammon.  Keen  traders,  with  or  without  a  li- 
cense ;  and  lawless  coureurs  de  bois,  whom  a  few 
years  of  forest  life  had  weaned  from  civilization, 
made  St.  Ignace  their  resort ;  and  here  there  were 
many  of  them  when  the  "  Griffin  "  came.  They  and 
their  employers  hated  and  feared  La  Salle,  who, 
sustained  as  he  was  by  the  Governor,  might  set  at 
nought  the  prohibition  of  the  king,  debarring  him 
from  traffic  with  these  tribes.  Yet,  while  plotting 
against  him,  they  took  pains  to  allay  his  distrust  by 
a  show  of  welcome. 

The  "  Griffin"  fired  her  cannon,  and  the  Indians 
yelped  in  wonder  and  amazement.     The  adventur- 

1  There  is  a  rude  plan  of  the  estahlishment  in  La  Hontan,  though,  in 
several  editions,  its  value  is  destroyed  by  the  reversal  of  the  plate. 


142  LA   SALLE   ON   THE  UPPER  LAKES.  [1679 

ers  landed  in  state,  and  marched,  under  arms,  to 
the  bark  chapel  of  the  Ottawa  village,  where  they 
heard  mass.  La  Salle  knelt  before  the  altar,  in  a 
mantle  of  scarlet,  bordered  with  gold.  Soldiers, 
sailors,  and  artisans  knelt  around  him,  —  black 
Jesuits,  gray  Recollets,  swarthy  voyageurs,  and 
painted  savages  ;  a  devout  but  motley  concourse. 

As  they  left  the  chapel,  the  Ottawa  chiefs  came 
to  bid  them  welcome,  and  the  Hurons  saluted  them 
with  a  volley  of  musketry.  They  saw  the  "  Griffin" 
at  her  anchorage,  surrounded  by  more  than  a  hun- 
dred bark  canoes,  like  a  Triton  among  minnows. 
Yet  it  was  with  more  wonder  than  good-will  that 
the  Indians  of  the  mission  gazed  on  the  floating 
fort,  for  so  they  called  the  vessel.  A  deep  jealousy 
of  La  Salle's  designs  had  been  infused  into  them. 
His  own  followers,  too,  had  been  tampered  with. 
In  the  autumn  before,  it  may  be  remembered,  he 
had  sent  fifteen  men  up  the  lakes,  to  trade  for  him, 
with  orders  to  go  thence  to  the  Illinois,  and  make 
preparation  against  his  coming.  Early  in  the  sum- 
mer, ToUty  had  been  despatched  in  a  canoe,  from 
Niagara,  to  look  after  them.1  It  was  high  time. 
Most  of  the  men  had  been  seduced  from  their  duty, 
and  had  disobeyed  their  orders,  squandered  the 
goods  intrusted  to  them,  or  used  them  in  trading 
on  their  own  account.  La  Salle  found  four  of 
them  at  Michillimackinac.  These  he  arrested,  and 
sent  Tonty  to  the  Falls  of  Ste.  Marie,  where  two 
others  were  captured,  with   their  plunder.      The 

1  Tonty,  Mtmoire,  MS.  He  was  overtaken  at  the  Detroit  by  the 
"Griffin." 


1679.]  A  FATAL  RESOLUTION.  143 

rest  were  in  the  woods,  and  it  was  useless  to  pursue 
them. 

Early  in  September,  long  before  Tonty  had  re- 
turned from  Ste.  Marie,  La  Salle  set  sail  again,  and, 
passing  westward  into  Lake  Michigan,1  cast  anchor 
near  one  of  the  islands  at  the  entrance  of  Green 
Bay.  Here,  for  once,  he  found  a  friend  in  the 
person  of  a  Pottawattamie  chief,  who  had  been  so 
wrought  upon  by  the  politic  kindness  of  Frontenac, 
that  he  declared  himself  ready  to  die  for  the  chil- 
dren of  Onontio.2  Here,  too,  he  found  several  of 
his  advanced  party,  who  had  remained  faithful,  and 
collected  a  large  store  of  furs.  It  would  have  been 
better  had  they  proved  false,  like  the  rest.  La 
Salle,  who  asked  counsel  of  no  man,  resolved,  in 
spite  of  his  followers,  to  send  back  the  "  Griffin," 
laden  with  these  furs,  and  others  collected  on  the 
way,  to  satisfy  his  creditors.3  She  fired  a  parting- 
shot,  and,  on  the  eighteenth  of  September,  spread 
her  sails  for  Niagara,  in  charge  of  the  pilot,  who 
had  orders  to  return  with  her  to  the  Illinois  as 
soon  as  he  had  discharged  his  cargo.  La  Salle, 
with  the  fourteen  men  who  remained,  in  four 
canoes,  deeply  laden  with  a  forge,  tools,  merchan- 

1  Then  usually  known  as  Lac  des  Illinois,  because  it  gave  access  to 
the  country  of  the  tribes  so  called.  Three  years  before,  Allouez  gave  it 
the  name  of  Lac  St.  Joseph,  by  which  it  is  often  designated  by  the  early 
writers.     Membre,  Douay,  and  others,  call  it  Lac  Dauphin. 

2  "  The  Great  Mountain,"  the  Iroquois  name  for  the  Governor  of  Can- 
ada.    It  was  borrowed  by  other  tribes  also. 

3  In  the  license  of  discovery,  granted  to  La  Salle,  he  is  expressly  pro- 
hibited from  trading  with  the  Ottawas  and  others  who  brought  furs  to 
Montreal.  This  traffic  on  the  lakes  was,  therefore,  illicit.  His  enemy, 
the  Intendant  Duchesneuu,  afterwards  used  this  against  him.  —  Lettrede 
Ducheaneau  an  Ministre,  10  Nov.  1680,  MS. 


144  LA   SALLE   ON   THE   UPPER   LAKES-  [1679. 

dise,  and  arms,  put  out  from  the  island  and  resumed 
his  voyage. 

The  parting  was  not  auspicious.  The  lake, 
glassy  and  calm  in  the  afternoon,  was  convulsed  at 
night  with  a  sudden  storm,  when  the  canoes  were 
midway  between  the  island  and  the  main  shore. 
It  was  with  much  ado  that  they  could  keep  to- 
gether, the  men  shouting  to  each  other  through 
the  darkness.  Hennepin,  who  was  in  the  smallest 
canoe,  with  a  heavy  load,  and  a  carpenter  for  a 
companion,  who  was  awkward  at  the  paddle,  found 
himself  in  jeopardy  which  demanded  all  his  nerve. 
The  voyagers  thought  themselves  happy  when  they 
gained  at  last  the  shelter  of  a  little  sandy  cove, 
where  they  dragged  up  their  canoes,  and  made 
their  cheerless  bivouac  in  the  drenched  and  drip- 
ping forest.  Here  they  spent  five  days,  living  on 
pumpkins  and  Indian  corn,  the  gift  of  their  Pot- 
tawattamie friends,  and  on  a  Canada  porcupine, 
brought  in  by  La  Salle's  Mohegan  hunter.  The 
gale  raged  meanwhile  with  a  relentless  fury.  They 
trembled  when  they  thought  of  the  "  Griffin."  When 
at  length  the  tempest  lulled,  they  re-embarked,  and 
steered  southward,  along  the  shore  of  Wisconsin ; 
but  again  the  storm  fell  upon  them,  and  drove 
them,  for  safety,  to  a  bare,  rocky  islet.  Here  they 
made  a  fire  of  driftwood,  crouched  around  it,  drew 
their  blankets  over  their  heads,  and  in  this  misera- 
ble plight,  pelted  with  sleet  and  rain,  remained  for 
two  days. 

At  length  they  were  afloat  again  ;  but  their  pros- 
perity was  brief.     On  the  twenty- eighth,  a  fierce 


1679.]  POTTAWATTAMIES.  145 

squall  drove  them  to  a  point  of  rocks,  covered  with 
bushes,  where  they  consumed  the  little  that  re- 
mained of  their  provisions.  On  the  first  of  October, 
they  paddled  about  thirty  miles,  without  food,  when 
they  came  to  a  village  of  Pottawattamies,  who  ran 
down  to  the  shore  to  help  them  to  land  ;  but  La 
Salle,  fearing  that  some  of  his  men  would  steal  the 
merchandise  and  desert  to  the  Indians,  insisted  on 
going  three  leagues  farther,  to  the  great  indignation 
of  his  followers.  The  lake,  swept  by  an  easterly 
gale,  was  rolling  its  waves  against  the  beach,  like 
the  ocean  in  a  storm.  In  the  attempt  to  land,  La 
Salle's  canoe  was  nearly  swamped.  He  and  his 
three  canoe-men  leaped  into  the  water,  and,  in  spite 
of  the  surf,  which  nearly  drowned  them,  dragged 
their  vessel  ashore,  with  all  its  load.  He  then  went 
to  the  rescue  of  Hennepin,  who,  with  his  awkward 
companion,  was  in  woful  need  of  succor.  Father 
Gabriel,  with  his  sixty-four  years,  was  no  match 
for  the  surf  and  the  violent  undertow.  Hennepin, 
finding  himself  safe,  waded  to  his  relief,  and  carried 
him  ashore  on  his  sturdy  shoulders;  while  the  old 
friar,  though  drenched  to  the  skin,  laughed  gayly 
under  his  cowl,  as  his  brother  missionary  staggered 
with  him  up  the  beach.1 

When  all  were  safe  ashore,  La  Salle,  who  dis- 
trusted the  Indians  they  had  passed,  took  post  on 
a  hill,  and  ordered  his  followers  to  prepare  their 
guns  for  action.  Nevertheless,  as  they  were  starv- 
ing, an  effort  must  be  risked  to  gain  a  supply  of 

1  Hennepin  (1683),  79. 
13 


146'  LA   SALLE   ON   THE   UPPER  LAKES.  [1679. 

food;  and  he  sent  three  men  back  to  the  village 
to  purchase  it.  Well  armed,  but  faint  with  toil 
and  famine,  they  made  their  way  through  the 
stormy  forest,  bearing  a  pipe  of  peace ;  but  on 
arriving  saw  that  the  scared  inhabitants  had  fled. 
They  found,  however,  a  stock  of  corn,  of  which 
they  took  a  portion,  leaving  goods  in  exchange, 
and  then  set  out  on  their  return. 

Meanwhile,  about  twenty  of  the  warriors,  armed 
with  bows  and  arrows,  approached  the  camp  of  the 
French,  to  reconnoitre.  La  Salle  went  to  meet 
them,  with  some  of  his  men,  opened  a  parley  with 
them,  and  kept  them  seated  at  the  foot  of  the  hill 
till  his  three  messengers  returned,  when,  on  seeing 
the  peace-pipe,. the  warriors  set  up  a  cry  of  joy. 
In  the  morning,  they  brought  more  corn  to  the 
camp,  with  a  supply  of  fresh  venison,  not  a  little 
cheering  to  the  exhausted  Frenchmen,  who,  in 
dread  of  treachery,  had  stood  under  arms  all  night. 

This  was  no  journey  of  pleasure.  The  lake  was 
ruffled  with  almost  ceaseless  storms ;  clouds  big 
with  rain  above ;  a  turmoil  of  gray  and  gloomy 
waves  beneath.  Every  night  the  canoes  must  be 
shouldered  through  the  breakers  and  dragged  up 
the  steep  banks,  which,  as  they  neared  the  site  of 
Milwaukee,  became  almost  insurmountable.  The 
men  paddled  all  day,  with  no  other  food  than  a 
handful  of  Indian  corn.  They  were  spent  with 
toil,  sick  with  the  haws  and  wild  berries  which 
they  ravenously  devoured,  and  dejected  at  the  pros- 
pect before  them.  Father  Gabriel's  good  spirits 
began  to  fail.     He  fainted  several  times,  from  fam- 


1679.]  BETTER  PROSPECTS.  147 

ine  and  fatigue,  but  was  revived  by  a  certain  "  con- 
fection of  Hyacinth,"  administered  by  Hennepin, 
who  had  a  small  box  of  this  precious  specific. 

At  length  they  descried,  at  a  distance,  on  the 
stormy  shore,  two  or  three  eagles  among  a  busy 
congregation  of  crows  or  turkey-buzzards.  They 
paddled  in  all  haste  to  the  spot.  The  feasters  took 
flight ;  and  the  starved  travellers  found  the  mangled 
body  of  a  deer,  lately  killed  by  the  wolves.  This 
good  luck  proved  the  inauguration  of  plenty.  As 
they  approached  the  head  of  the  lake,  game  grew 
abundant;  and,  with  the  aid  of  the  Mohegan,  there 
was  no  lack  of  bear's  meat  and  venison.  They 
found  wild  grapes,  too,  in  the  woods,  and  gathered 
them  by  cutting  down  the  trees  to  which  the  vines 
clung. 

While  thus  employed,  they  were  startled  by  a 
sight  often  so  fearful  in  the  waste  and  the  wilder- 
ness, the  print  of  a  human  foot.  It  was  clear  that 
Indians  were  not  far  off.  A  strict  watch  was  kept, 
not,  as  it  proved,  without  cause ;  for  that  night, 
while  the  sentry  thought  of  little  but  screening 
himself  and  his  gun  from  the  floods  of  rain,  a  party 
of  Outagamies  crept  under  the  bank,  where  they 
lurked  for  some  time  before  he  discovered  them. 
Being  challenged,  they  came  forward,  professing 
great  friendship,  and  pretending  to  have  mistaken 
the  French  for  Iroquois.  In  the  morning,  how- 
ever, there  was  an  outcry  from  La  Salle's  servant, 
who  declared  that  the  visitors  had  stolen  his  coat 
from  under  the  inverted  canoe  where  he  had  placed 
it ;  while  some  of  the  carpenters  also  complained  of 


148  LA   SALLE   ON  THE   UPPER  LAKES.  [1679. 

being  robbed.  La  Salle  well  knew  that  if  the  theft 
were  left  unpunished,  worse  would  come  of  it. 
First,  he  posted  his  men  at  the  woody  point  of  a 
peninsula,  whose  sandy  neck  was  interposed  be- 
tween them  and  the  main  forest.  Then  he  went 
forth,  pistol  in  hand,  met  a  young  Outagami, 
seized  him,  and  led  him  prisoner  to  his  camp. 
This  done,  he  again  set  out,  and  soon  found  an 
Outagami  chief,  —  for  the  wigwams  were  not  far 
distant,  —  to  whom  he  told  what  he  had  done,  add- 
ing that  unless  the  stolen  goods  were  restored,  the 
prisoner  should  be  killed.  The  Indians  were  in 
perplexity,  for  they  had  cut  the  coat  to  pieces  and 
divided  it.  In  this  dilemma,  they  resolved,  being 
strong  in  numbers,  to  rescue  then  comrade  by 
force.  Accordingly,  they  came  down  to  the  edge 
of  the  forest,  or  posted  themselves  behind  fallen 
trees  on  the  banks,  while  La  Salle's  men  in  their 
stronghold  braced  their  nerves  for  the  fight.  Here 
three  Flemish  friars,  with  their  rosaries,  and  eleven 
Frenchmen,  with  their  guns,  confronted  a  hundred 
and  twenty  screeching  Outagamies.  Hennepin, 
who  had  seen  service,  and  who  had  always  an 
exhortation  at  his  tongue's  end,  busied  himself  to 
inspire  the  rest  with  a  courage  equal  to  his  own. 
Neither  party,  however,  had  an  appetite  for  the 
fray.  A  parley  ensued :  full  compensation  was 
made  for  the  stolen  goods,  and  the  aggrieved 
Frenchmen  were  farther  propitiated  with  a  gift  of 
beaver-skins. 

Their  late   enemies,  now  become  friends,  spent 
the  next  day  in  dances,  feasts,  and  speeches.    They 


1679.]  THE  ST.  JOSEPH.  149 

entreated  La  Salle  not  to  advance  further,  since  the 
Illinois,  through  whose  country  he  must  pass,  would 
be  sure  to  kill  him ;  for,  added  these  friendly  coun- 
sellors, they  hated  the  French  because  they  had 
been  instigating  the  Iroquois  to  invade  their  country. 
Here  was  a  new  subject  of  anxiety.  La  Salle 
thought  that  he  saw  in  it  another  device  of  his  busy 
and  unscrupulous  enemies,  intriguing  among  the 
Illinois  for  his  destruction. 

He  pushed  on,  however,  circling  around  the 
southern  shore  of  Lake  Michigan,  till  he  reached 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph,  called  by  him  the 
Miamis.  Here  Tonty  was  to  have  rejoined  him, 
with  twenty  men,  making  his  way  from  Michilli- 
mackinac,  along  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake : 
but  the  rendezvous  was  a  solitude  ;  Tonty  was  no- 
where to  be  seen.  It  was  the  first  of  November. 
Winter  was  at  hand,  and  the  streams  would  soon 
be  frozen.  The  men  clamored  to  go  forward,  urg- 
ing that  they  should  starve  if  they  could  not  reach 
the  villages  of  the  Illinois  before  the  tribe  scattered 
for  the  winter  hunt.  La  Salle  was  inexorable.  If 
they  should  all  desert,  he  said,  he,  with  his  Mohe- 
gan  hunter  and  the  three  friars,  would  still  remain 
and  wait  for  Tonty.  The  men  grumbled,  but 
obeyed;  and,  to  divert  their  thoughts,  he  set  them 
at  building  a  fort  of  timber,  on  a  rising  ground  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river. 

They  had  spent  twenty  days  at  this  task,  and 
their  work  was  well  advanced,  when  at  length 
Tonty  appeared.  He  brought  with  him  only  half 
of  his  men.     Provisions  had  failed  ;  and  the  rest  of 

13* 


150  LA   SALLE  ON  THE   UPPER  LAKES.  fl679. 

his  party  had  been  left  thirty  leagues  behind,  to 
sustain  themselves  by  hunting.  La  Salle  told  him 
to  return  and  hasten  them  forward.  He  set  out 
with  two  men.  A  violent  north  wind  arose.  He 
tried  to  run  his  canoe  ashore  through  the  break- 
ers. The  two  men  could  not  manage  their  ves- 
sel, and  he  with  his  one  hand  could  not  help  them. 
She  swamped,  rolling  over  in  the  surf.  Guns, 
baggage,  and  provisions  were  lost ;  and  the  three 
voyagers  returned  to  the  Miamis,  subsisting  on 
acorns  by  the  way.  Happily,  the  men  left  behind, 
excepting  two  deserters,  succeeded,  a  few  days 
after,  in  rejoining  the  party.1 

Thus  was  one  heavy  load  lifted  from  the  heart 
of  La  Salle.  But  where  was  the  '•  Griffin'"?  Time 
enough,  and  more  than  enough,  had  passed  for  her 
voyage  to  Niagara  and  back  again.  He  scanned 
the  dreary  horizon  with  an  anxious  eye.  JSTo  re- 
turning sail  gladdened  the  watery  solitude,  and  a 
dark  foreboding  gathered  on  his  heart.  Yet  far- 
ther delay  was  impossible.  He  sent  back  two  men 
to  Michillimackinac  to  meet  her,  if  she  still  existed, 
and  pilot  her  to  his  new  fort  of  the  Miamis,  and 
then  prepared  to  ascend  the  river,  whose  weedy 
edges  were  already  glassed  with  thin  flakes  of 
ice. 

1  Hennepin  (1683),  112;  Tonty,  Mtmoire,  MS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

1679-1680. 
LA  SALLE  ON  THE  ILLINOIS. 

The  St.  Joseph.  —  Adventure  of  La  Salle.  —  The  Prairies.  —  Fam- 
ine.—  The  Great  Town  of  the  Illinois.  —  Indians. —  Intrigues. — 
Difficulties.  —  Policy  of  La  Salle.  —  Desertion. — Another  At- 
tempt to  poison  him. 

On  the  third  of  December,  the  party  re-em- 
barked, thirty-three  in  all,  in  eight  canoes,1  and  as- 
cended the  chill  current  of  the  St.  Joseph,  bordered 
with  dreary  meadows  and  bare  gray  forests.  When 
they  approached  the  site  of  the  present  village  of 
South  Bend,  they  looked  anxiously  along  the  shore 
on  their  right  to  find  the  portage  or  path  leading  to 
the  headquarters  of  the  Illinois.  The  Mohegan 
was  absent,  hunting ;  and,  unaided  by  his  practised 
eye,  they  passed  the  path  without  seeing  it.  La 
Salle  landed'  to  search  the  woods.  Hours  passed, 
and  he  did  not  return.  Hennepin  and  Tonty  grew 
uneasy,  disembarked,  bivouacked,  ordered  guns  to 
be  fired,  and  sent  out  men  to  scour  the  country. 
Night  came,  but  not  their  lost  leader.  Muffled  in 
their  blankets  and  powdered  by  the  thick-falling 
snowflakes,  they  sat  ruefully  speculating  as  to  what 
had  befallen  him ;  nor  was  it  till  four  o'clock  of 

1  Lettre  de  Duchesneau  h ,  10  Nov.  1680,  MS. 


152  LA   SALLE   ON   THE   ILLINOIS.  [1679-80. 

the  next  afternoon  that  they  saw  him  approaching 
along1  the  margin  of  the  river.  His  face  and  hands 
Avere  besmirched  with  charcoal ;  and  he  was  farther 
decorated  with  two  opossums  which  hung  from  his 
belt  and  which  he  had  killed  with  a  stick  as  they 
were  swinging  head  downwards  from  the  bough  of 
a  tree,  after  the  fashion  of  that  singular  beast.  He 
had  missed  his  way  in  the  forest,  and  had  been 
forced  to  make  a  wide  circuit  around  the  edge  of  a 
swamp  ;  while  the  snow,  of  which  the  air  was  full, 
added  to  his  perplexities.  Thus  he  pushed  on 
through  the  rest  of  the  day  and  the  greater 
part  of  the  night,  till,  about  two  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  he  reached  the  river  again  and  fired  his 
gun  as  a  signal  to  his  party.  Hearing  no  an- 
swering shot,  he  pursued  his  way  along  the  bank, 
when  he  presently  saw  the  gleam  of  a  fire  among 
the  dense  thickets  close  at  hand.  Not  doubting 
that  he  had  found  the  bivouac  of  his  party,  he 
hastened  to  the  spot.  To  his  surprise,  no  human 
being  was  to  be  seen.  Under  a  tree  beside  the  fire 
was  a  heap  of  dry  grass  impressed  with  the  form  of 
a  man  who  must  have  fled  but  a  moment  before, 
for  his  couch  was  still  warm.  It  was  no  doubt  an 
Indian,  ambushed  on  the  bank,  watching  to  kill 
some  passing  enemy.  La  Salle  called  out  in  se- 
veral Indian  languages  ;  but  there  was  dead  silence 
all  around.  He  then,  with  admirable  coolness, 
took  possession  of  the  quarters  he  had  found,  shout- 
ing to  their  invisible  proprietor  that  he  was  about 
to  sleep  in  his  bed  ;  piled  a  barricade  of  bushes 
around  the  spot,  rekindled  the  dying  fire,  warmed 


1679.]  THE   KANKAKEE.  153 

his  benumbed  hands,  stretched  himself  on  the  dried 
grass,  and  slept  undisturbed  till  morning. 

The  Mohegan  had  rejoined  the  party  before  La 
Salle's  return,  and  with  his  aid  the  portage  was  soon 
found.  Here  the  party  encamped.  La  Salle,  who 
was  excessively  fatigued,  occupied,  together  with 
Hennepin,  a  wigwam  covered  in  the  Indian  man- 
ner with  mats  of  reeds.  The  cold  forced  them  to 
kindle  a  fire,  which  before  daybreak  set  the  mats 
in  a  blaze  ;  and  the  two  sleepers  narrowly  escaped 
being  burned  along  with  their  hut. 

In  the  morning,  the  party  shouldered  their  canoes 
and  baggage,  and  began  their  march  for  the  sources 
of  the  River  Illinois,  some  five  miles  distant. 
Around  them  stretched  a  desolate  plain,  half-cov- 
ered with  snow,  and  strewn  with  the  skulls  and 
bones  of  buffalo  ;  while,  on  its  farthest  verge,  they 
could  see  the  lodges  of  the  Miami  Indians,  who  had 
made  this  place  their  abode.  They  soon  reached  a 
spot  where  the  oozy  saturated  soil  quaked  beneath 
their  tread.  All  around  were  clumps  of  alder- 
bushes,  tufts  of  rank  grass,  and  pools  of  glistening 
water.  In  the  midst,  a  dark  and  lazy  current, 
which  a  tall  man  might  bestride,  crept  twisting  like 
a  snake  among  the  weeds  and  rushes.  Here  were 
the  sources  of  the  Kankakee,  one  of  the  heads  of 
the  Illinois.1     They  set  their  canoes  on  this  thread 

1  The  Kankakee  was  called  at  this  time  the  Theakiki,  or  Haukiki 
(Marest) ;  a  name,  which,  as  Charlevoix  says,  was  afterwards  corrupted 
by  the  French  to  Kiakiki,  whence,  probably,  its  present  form.  In  La 
Salle's  time,  the  name  Theakiki  was  given  to  the  River  Illinois,  through 
all  its  course.  It  was  also  called  the  Riviere  Seignelay,  the  Riviere  des 
Macopins,  and  the  Riviere  Divine,  or  Riviere  de  la  Divine.     The  latter 


154  LA  SALLE   ON   THE   ILLINOIS.  [1679. 

of  water,  embarked  their  baggage  and  themselves, 
and  pushed  down  the  sluggish  streamlet,  looking, 
at  a  little  distance,  like  men  who  sailed  on  land. 
Fed  by  an  unceasing  tribute  of  the  spongy  soil,  it 
quickly  widened  to  a  river  ;  and  they  floated  on  their 
way  through  a  voiceless,  lifeless  solitude  of  dreary 
oak  barrens,  or  boundless  marshes  overgrown  with 
reeds.  At  night,  they  built  their  fire  on  ground 
made  firm  by  frost,  and  bivouacked  among  the 
rushes.  A  few  days  brought  them  to  a  more  fa- 
vored region.  On  the  right  hand  and  on  the  left 
stretched  the  boundless  prairie,  dotted  with  leafless 
groves  and  bordered  by  gray  wintry  forests  ;  scorched 
by  the  fires  kindled  in  the  dried  grass  by  Indian 
hunters,  and  strewn  with  the  carcasses  and  the 
bleached  skulls  of  innumerable  buffalo.  The  plains 
were  scored  with  their  pathways,  and  the  muddy 
edges  of  the  river  were  full  of  their  hoof-prints. 
Yet  not  one  was  to  be  seen.  At  night,  the  horizon 
glowed  with  distant  fires  ;  and  by  day  the  savage 
hunters  could  be  descried  at  times  roaming  on  the 
verge  of  the  prairie.  The  men,  discontented  and  half- 
name,  when  Charlevoix  visited  the  country  in  1721,  was  confined  to  the 
northern  branch.  He  gives  an  interesting  and  somewhat  graphic  account 
of  the  portage  and  the  sources  of  the  Kankakee,  in  his  letter  dated  De  la 
Source  da  Theakiki,  ce  dix-sept  Septembre,  1721. 

Why  the  Illinois  should  ever  have  been  called  the  Divine,  it  is  not 
easy  to  see.  The  Memoirs  of  St.  Simon  suggest  an  explanation.  Mad- 
ame de  Frontenac  and  her  friend,  Mademoiselle  d'Outrelaise,  he  tells  us, 
lived  together  in  apartments  at  the  Arsenal,  where  they  held  their  salon 
and  exercised  a  great  power  in  society.  They  were  called  at  court  les 
Divines.  —  St.  Simon,  v.  335  (Cheruel).  In  compliment  to  Frontenac, 
the  river  may  have  been  named  after  his  wife  or  her  friend.  The  sug- 
gestion is  due  to  M.  Margry.  I  have  seen  a  map  by  Raudin,  Frontenac's 
engineer,  on  which  the  river  is  called  "Riviere  de  la  Divine  ou  l'Outre- 
laise." 


1679.]  BUFFALO   BULL.  155 

starved,  would  have  deserted  to  them  had  they 
dared.  La  Salle's  Mohegan  could  kill  no  game  ex- 
cept two  lean  deer,  with  a  few  wild  geese  and 
swans.  At  length,  in  their  straits,  they  made  a 
happy  discovery.  It  was  a  buffalo  bull,  fast  mired 
in  a  slough.  They  killed  him,  lashed  a  cable 
about  him,  and  then  twelve  men  dragged  out  the 
shaggy  monster  whose  ponderous  carcass  demanded 
their  utmost  efforts.1 

The  scene  changed  again  as  they  descended.  On 
either  hand  ran  ranges  of  woody  hills,  following 
the  course  of  the  river ;  and  when  they  mounted  to 
their  tops,  they  saw  beyond  them  a  rolling  sea  of 
dull  green  prairie,  a  boundless  pasture  of  the  buf- 
falo and  the  deer,  in  our  own  day  strangely  trans- 
formed, —  yellow  in  harvest  time  with  ripened 
wheat,  and  dotted  with  the  roofs  of  a  hardy  and 
valiant  yeomanry.2 

They  passed  the  site  of,  the  future  town  of  Ot- 
tawa, and  saw  on  their  right  the  high  plateau  of 
Buffalo  Rock,  long  a  favorite  dwelling-place  of  In- 

1  I  remember  to  have  seen  an  incident  precisely  similar,  many  years 
ago,  on  the  Upper  Arkansas.  In  this  case,  however,  it  was  impossible 
to  drag  the  bull  from  the  mire.  Though  hopelessly  entangled,  he  made 
furious  plunges  at  his  assailants  before  being  shot. 

Hennepin's  account  of  the  buffalo,  which  he  afterwards  had  every  op- 
portunity of  seeing,  is  interesting  and  true. 

2  The  change  is  very  recent.  Within  the  memory  of  men  still  young, 
wolves  and  deer,  besides  wild  swans,  wild  turkeys,  cranes,  and  pelicans, 
abounded  in  this  region.  In  1840,  a  friend  of  mine  shot  a  deer  from  the 
window  of  a  farm-house  near  the  present  town  of  La  Salle.  Running 
wolves  on  horseback  was  his  iavorite  amusement  in  this  part  of  the 
country.  The  buffalo  long  ago  disappeared,  but  the  early  settlers  found 
frequent  remains  of  them.  Mr.  James  Clark,  of  Utica,  111.,  told  me  that 
he  once  found  a  large  quantity  of  their  bones  and  skulls  in  one  place,  as 
if  a  herd  had  perished  in  the  snow-drifts. 


156  LA   SALLE   ON   THE   ILLINOIS.  [1679. 

dians.  A  league  below,  the  river  glided  among 
islands  bordered  with  stately  woods.  Close  on 
their  left  towered  a  lofty  cliff,1  crested  with  trees 
that  overhung  the  rippling  current ;  while  before 
them  spread  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  in  broad  low 
meadows,  bordered  on  the  right  by  the  graceful 
hills  at  whose  foot  now  lies  the  village  of  Utica.  A 
population  far  more  numerous  then  tenanted  the 
valley.  Along  the  right  bank  of  the  river  were 
clustered  the  lodges  of  a  great  Indian  town.  Hen- 
nepin  counted  four  hundred  and  sixty   of  them.2 


1  "  Starved  Rock."  It  will  hold,  hereafter,  a  conspicuous  place  in  the 
narrative. 

2  La  Louisiane,  137.  Allouez  (Relation,  1673-9)  found  three  hundred 
and  fifty-one  lodges.  This  was  in  1677.  The  population  of  this  town, 
which  embraced  five  or  six  distinct  tribes  of  the  Illinois,  was  continually 
changing.  In  1675,  Marquette  addressed  here  an  auditory  composed  of 
five  hundred  chiefs  and  old  men,  and  fifteen  hundred  young  men,  besides 
women  and  children.  He  estimates  the  number  of  fires  at  five  or  six  hun- 
dred. —  Voyages  da  Pere  Marquette,  98  (Lenox).  Membre,  who  was  here  in 
1680,  says  that  it  then  contained  seven  or  eight  thousand  souls.  —  Membre, 
in  Le  Clercq,  Premier  Etablissement  de  la  Foy,  ii.  173.  On  the  remarkable 
manuscript  map  of  Franquelin,  1684,  it  is  set  down  at  twelve  hundred 
warriors,  or  about  six  thousand  souls.  This  was  after  the  destructive 
inroad  of  the  Iroquois.  Some  years  later,  Rasle  reported  upwards  of 
twenty-four  hundred  families.  —  Lettre  a  son  Frere  in  Lettres  Edifiantes. 

At  times,  nearly  the  whole  Illinois  population  was  gathered  here.  At 
other  times,  the  several  tribes  that  composed  it  separated,  some  dwelling 
apart  from  the  rest ;  so  that  at  one  period  the  Illinois  formed  eleven  vil- 
lages, while  at  others  they  were  gathered  into  two,  of  which  this  was  much 
the  largest.  The  meadows  around  it  were  extensively  cultivated,  yield- 
ing large  crops,  chiefly  of  Indian  corn.  The  lodges  were  built  along  the 
river  bank,  for  a  distance  of  a  mile  and  sometimes  far  more.  In  their 
shape,  though  not  in  their  material,  they  resembled  those  of  the  Hurons. 
There  were  no  palisades  or  embankments. 

This  neighborhood  abounds  in  Indian  relics.  The  village  graveyard 
appears  to  have  been  on  a  rising  ground,  near  the  river,  immediately  in 
front  of  the  town  of  Utica.  This  is  the  only  part  of  the  river  bottom, 
from  this  point  to  the  Mississippi,  not  liable  to  inundation  in  the  spring 
floods.     It  now  forms  part  of  a  farm  occupied  by  a  tenant  of  Mr.  James 


1679.]  HUNGER   RELIEVED.  157 

In  shape,  they  were  somewhat  like  the  arched  top  of 
a  baggage  wagon.  They  were  built  of  a  framework 
of  poles,  covered  with  mats  of  rushes,  closely  inter- 
woven ;  and  each  contained  three  or  four  fires,  of 
which  the  greater  part  served  for  two  families. 

Here,  then,  was  the  town ;  but  where  were  the 
inhabitants  1  All  was  silent  as  the  desert.  The 
lodges  were  empty,  the  fires  dead,  and  the  ashes 
cold.  La  Salle  had  expected  this ;  for  he  knew 
that  in  the  autumn  the  Illinois  always  left  their 
towns  for  their  winter  hunting,  and  that  the  time 
of  their  return  had  not  yet  come.  Yet  he  was  not 
the  less  embarrassed,  for  he  would  fain  have  bought 
a  supply  of  food  to  relieve  his  famished  followers. 
Some  of  them,  searching  the  deserted  town,  pres- 
ently found  the  caches,  or  covered  pits,  in  which 
the  Indians  hid  their  stock  of  corn.  This  was 
precious  beyond  measure  in  their  eyes,  and  to 
touch  it  would  be  a  deep  offence.  La  Salle  shrank 
from  provoking  their  anger,  which  might  prove  the 
ruin  of  his  plans  ;  but  his  necessity  overcame  his 
prudence,  and  he  took  twenty  minots  of  corn, 
hoping  to  appease  the  owners  by  presents.  Thus 
provided,  the  party  embarked  again,  and  resumed 
their  downward  voyage. 

On  New- Year's  day,  1680,  they  landed  and  heard 
mass.  Then  Hennepin  wished  a  happy  new  year 
to  La  Salle  first,  and  afterwards  to  all  the  men, 


Clark.  Both  Mr.  Clark  and  his  tenant  informed  me  that  every  year 
great  quantities  of  human  bones  and  teeth  were  turned  up  here  by  the 
plough.  Many  implements  of  stone  are  also  found,  together  with  beads 
and  other  ornaments  of  Indian  and  European  fabric. 

14 


158  LA  SALLE  ON   THE   ILLINOIS.  [1680. 

making  them  a  speech,  which,  as  he  tells  us,  was 
u  most  touching."  1  He  and  his  two  brethren  next 
embraced  the  whole  company  in  turn,  "in  a  man- 
ner," writes  the  father,  "  most  tender  and  affection- 
ate," exhorting  them,  at  the  same  time,  to  patience, 
faith,  and  constancy.  Two  days  after  these  so- 
lemnities, they  reached  the  long  expansion  of  the 
river,  then  called  Pimitoui,  and  now  known  as 
Peoria  Lake,  and  leisurely  made  their  way  down- 
ward to  the  site  of  the  city  of  Peoria.2  Here,  as 
evening  drew  near,  they  saw  a  faint  spire  of  smoke 
curling  above  the  gray,  wintry  forest,  betokening 
that  Indians  were  at  hand.  La  Salle,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  been  warned  that  these  tribes  had  been 
taught  to  regard  him  as  their  enemy ;  and  when,  in 
the  morning,  he  resumed  his  course,  he  was  pre- 
pared alike  for  peace  or  war. 

The  shores  now  approached  each  other ;  and  the 
Illinois  was  once  more  a  river,  bordered  on  either 
hand  with  overhanging  woods.3 

At  nine  o'clock,  doubling  a  point,  he  saw  about 
eighty  Illinois  wigwams,  on  both  sides  of  the  river. 
He  instantly  ordered  the  eight  canoes  to  be  ranged 
in  line,  abreast,  across  the  stream;  Tonty  on  the 
right,  and  he  himself  on  the  left.     The  men  laid 

1  "Les  paroles  les  plus  touchantes."  Hennepin  (1683),  139.  The 
later  editions  add  the  modest  qualification,  "  que  je  pus." 

2  Peoria  was  the  name  of  one  of  the  trihes  of  tlie  Illinois.  Hennepin 
says  that  they  crossed  the  lake  four  days  after  leaving  the  village,  which 
last,  as  appears  by  a  comparison  of  his  narrative  with  that  of  Tonty,  must 
have  been  on  the  thirtieth  of  December. 

3  At  least  it  is  so  now  at  this  place.  Perhaps  in  La  Salle's  time  it  was 
not  wholly  so,  for  there  is  evidence  in  various  parts  of  the  West  that  the 
forest  has  made  considerable  encroachments  on  the  open  country. 


1680.]  ILLINOIS   HOSPITALITY.  159 

down  their  paddles  and  seized  their  weapons; 
while,  in  this  warlike  guise,  the  current  bore  them 
swiftly  into  the  midst  of  the  surprised  and  astound- 
ed savages.  The  camps  were  in  a  panic.  War- 
riors whooped  and  howled ;  squaws  and  children 
screeched  in  chorus.  Some  snatched  their  bows 
and  war-clubs  ;  some  ran  in  terror ;  and,  in  the 
midst  of  the  hubbub,  La  Salle  leaped  ashore,  fol- 
lowed by  his  men.  None  knew  better  how  to  deal 
with  Indians ;  and  he  made  no  sign  of  friendship, 
knowing  that  it  might  be  construed  as  a  token  of 
fear.  His  little  knot  of  Frenchmen  stood,  gun  in 
hand,  passive,  yet  prepared  for  battle.  The  In- 
dians, on  their  part,  rallying  a  little  from  their 
fright,  made  all  haste  to  proffer  peace.  Two  of 
their  chiefs  came  forward,  holding  forth  the  calu- 
met; while  another  began  a  loud  harangue,  to  check 
the  young  warriors  who  were  aiming  their  arrows 
from  the  farther  bank.  La  Salle,  responding  to 
these  friendly  overtures,  displayed  another  calumet ; 
while  Hennepin  caught  several  scared  children  and 
soothed  them  with  winning  blandishments.1  The 
uproar  was  quelled,  and  the  strangers  were  pres- 
ently seated  in  the  midst  of  the  camp,  beset  by  a 
throng  of  wild  and  swarthy  figures. 

Food  was  placed  before  them;  and,  as  the  Illinois 
code  of  courtesy  enjoined,  their  entertainers  con- 
veyed the  morsels  with  their  own  hands  to  the  lips 
of  these  unenviable  victims  of  their  hospitality, 
while  others  rubbed  their  feet  with  bear's  grease. 
La  Salle,  on  his  part,  made  them  a  gift  of  tobacco 

i  Hennepin  (1683),  142. 


160  LA  SALLE  ON  THE  ILLINOIS.  [1680. 

and  hatchets ;  and,  when  he  had  escaped  from 
their  caresses,  rose  and  harangued  them.  He  told 
them  that  he  had  been  forced  to  take  corn  from 
their  granaries,  lest  his  men  should  die  of  hunger; 
but  he  prayed  them  not  to  be  offended,  promising 
full  restitution  or  ample  payment.  He  had  come, 
he  said,  to  protect  them  against  their  enemies,  and 
teach  them  to  pray  to  the  true  God.  As  for  the 
Iroquois,  they  were  subjects  of  the  Great  King, 
and,  therefore,  brethren  of  the  French  ;  yet,  never- 
theless, should  they  begin  a  war  and  invade  their 
country,  he  would  stand  by  the  Illinois,  give  them 
guns,  and  fight  in  their  defence,  if  they  would 
permit  him  to  build  a  fort  among  them  for  the 
security  of  his  men.  It  was,  also,  he  added,  his 
purpose  to  build  a  great  wooden  canoe,  in  which 
to  descend  the  Mississippi  to  the  sea,  and  then 
return,  bringing  them  the  goods  of  which  they 
stood  in  need ;  but  if  they  would  not  consent  to  his 
plans,  and  sell  provisions  to  his  men,  he  would  pass 
on  to  the  Osages,  who  would  then  reap  all  the  ben- 
efits of  intercourse  with  the  French,  while  they 
were  left  destitute,  at  the  mercy  of  the  Iroquois.1 

This  threat  had  its  effect,  for  it  touched  their 
deep-rooted  jealousy  of  the  Osages.  They  were 
lavish  of  promises,  and  feasts  and  dances  consumed 
the  day.  Yet  La  Salle  soon  learned  that  the  in- 
trigues of  his  enemies  were  still  pursuing  him. 
That  evening,  unknown  to  him,  a  stranger  appeared 
in  the  Illinois  camp.     He  was  a  Mascoutin  chief, 

l  Hennepin  (1683),  144-149.  The  later  editions  omit  a  part  of  the 
above. 


1680.]  FRESH  INTRIGUES.  161 

named  Monso,  attended  by  five  or  six  Miamis,  and 
bringing  a  gift  of  knives,  hatchets,  and  kettles  to 
the  Illinois.  The  chiefs  assembled  in  a  secret  noc- 
turnal session,  where,  smoking  their  pipes,  they 
listened  with  open  ears  to  the  harangue  of  the 
envoys.  Monso  told  them  that  he  had  come  in 
behalf  of  certain  Frenchmen,  whom  he  named,  to 
warn  his  hearers  against  the  designs  of  La  Salle, 
whom  he  denounced  as  a  partisan  and  spy  of  the 
Iroquois,  affirming  that  he  was  now  on  his  way  to 
stir  up  the  tribes  beyond  the  Mississippi  to  join  in 
a  war  against  the  Illinois,  who,  thus  assailed  from 
the  east  and  from  the  west,  would  be  utterly  de- 
stroyed. There  was  no  hope  for  them,  he  added, 
but  in  checking  the  farther  progress  of  La  Salle, 
or,  at  least,  retarding  it,  thus  causing  his  men  to 
desert  him.  Having  thrown  his  firebrand,  Monso 
and  his  party  left  the  camp  in  haste,  dreading 
to  be  confronted  with  the  object  of  their  asper- 
sions.1 

In  the  morning,  La  Salle  saw  a  change  in  the 
behavior  of  his  hosts.  They  looked  on  him  askance, 
cold,  sullen,  and  suspicious.     There  was  one  Oma- 

1  Hennepin  (1683),  151,  (1704),  205.  Le  Clercq,  ii.  157.  M&noiredu 
Voyage  de  M.  da. la  Salle,  MS.  This  is  a  paper  appended  to  Frontenac's 
Letter  to  the  Minister,  9  Nov.  1680.  Hennepin  prints  a  translation  of  it 
in  the  English  edition  of  his  later  work.  It  charges  the  Jesuit  Allouez 
with  being  at  the  bottom  of  the  intrigue.  La  Salle  had  a  special  distrust 
of  this  missionary,  who,  on  his  part,  always  shunned  a  meeting  with  him. 

In  another  memoir,  addressed  to  Frontenac  in  1680,  La  Salle  states 
fully  his  conviction  that  Allouez,  who  was  then,  he  says,  among  the 
Miamis,  had  induced  them  to  send  Monso  on  his  sinister  errand.  See  the 
memoir  in  Thomassy,  G€ologie  Pratique  de  la  Louisiane,  203. 

The  account  of  the  affair  of  Monso  in  the  spurious  work  bearing 
Tonty's  name  is  mere  romance. 

14* 


162  LA  SALLE   ON   THE  ILLINOIS.  [1680. 

wha,  a  chief,  whose  favor  he  had  won  the  day  be- 
fore by  the  politic  gift  of  two  hatchets  and  three 
knives,  and  who  now  came  to  him  in  secret  to  tell 
him  what  had  taken  place  at  the  nocturnal  council. 
La  Salle  at  once  saw  in  it  a  device  of  his  enemies; 
and  this  belief  was  confirmed,  when,  in  the  after- 
noon, Xicanope,  brother  of  the  head  chief,  sent  to 
invite  the  Frenchmen  to  a  feast.  They  repaired  to 
his  lodge;  but  before  dinner  was  served, — that  is 
to  say,  while  the  guests,  white  and  red,  were  seated 
on  mats,  each  with  his  hunting-knife  in  his  hand, 
and  the  wooden  bowl  before  him,  which  was  to 
receive  his  share  of  the  bear's  or  buffalo's  meat,  or 
the  corn  boiled  in  fat,  with  which  he  was  to  be 
regaled ;  while  such  was  the  posture  of  the  com- 
pany, their  host  arose  and  began  a  long  speech. 
He  told  the  Frenchmen  that  he  had  invited  them 
to  his  lodge  less  to  refresh  their  bodies  with  good 
cheer  than  to  cure  their  minds  of  the  dangerous 
purpose  which  possessed  them,  of  descending  the 
Mississippi.  Its  shores,  he  said,  were  beset  by 
savage  tribes,  against  whose  numbers  and  ferocity 
their  valor  would  avail  nothing :  its  waters  were 
infested  by  serpents,  alligators,  and  unnatural  mon- 
sters ;  "while  the  river  itself,  after  raging  among 
rocks  and  whirlpools,  plunged  headlong  at  last  into 
a  fathomless  gulf,  which  would  swallow  them  and 
their  vessel  for  ever. 

La  Salle's  men  were,  for  the  most  part,  raw 
hands,  knowing  nothing  of  the  wilderness,  and 
easily  alarmed  at  its  dangers  ;  but  there  were  two 
among  them,  old  coureurs  de  bois,  who,  unfortu- 


1680.]  LA   SALLE  AND  THE  INDIANS.  163 

nately,  knew  too  much ;  for  they  understood  the 
Indian  orator,  and  explained  his  speech  to  the  rest. 
As  La  Salle  looked  around  on  the  circle  of  his  fol- 
lowers, he  read  an  augury  of  fresh  trouble  in  their 
disturbed  and  rueful  visages.  He  waited  patiently, 
however,  till  the  speaker  had  ended,  and  then 
answered  him,  through  his  interpreter,  with  great 
composure.  First,  he  thanked  him  for  the  friendly 
warning  which  his  affection  had  impelled  him  to 
utter ;  but,  he  continued,  the  greater  the  danger, 
the  greater  the  honor  ;  and  even  if  the  danger  were 
real,  Frenchmen  would  never  flinch  from  it.  But 
were  not  the  Illinois  jealous  ?  Had  they  not  been 
deluded  by  lies'?  "  We  were  not  asleep,  my  broth- 
er, when  Monso  came  to  tell  you,  under  cover  of 
night,  that  we  were  spies  of  the  Iroquois.  The 
presents  he  gave  you,  that  you  might  believe  his 
falsehoods,  are  at  this  moment  buried  in  the  earth 
under  this  lodge.  If  he  told  the  truth,  why  did  he 
skulk  away  in  the  dark  ?  Why  did  he  not  show 
himself  by  day?  Do  you  not  see  that  when  we 
first  came  among  you,  and  your  camp  was  all  in 
confusion,  we  could  have  killed  you  without  need- 
ing help  from  the  Iroquois'?  And  now,  while  I 
am  speaking,  could  we  not  put  your  old  men  to 
death,  while  your  young  warriors  are  all  gone  away 
to  hunt?  If  we  meant  to  make  war  on  you,  we 
should  need  no  help  from  the  Iroquois,  who  have 
so  often  felt  the  force  of  our  arms.  Look  at  what 
we  have  brought  you.  It  is  not  weapons  to  destroy 
you,  but  merchandise  and  tools,  for  your  good.  If 
you  still  harbor  evil  thoughts  of  us,  be  frank  as  we 


164  LA   SALLE   ON   THE  ILLINOIS.  [1680. 

are,  and  speak  them  boldly.  Go  after  this  impos- 
tor, Monso,  and  bring  him  back,  that  we  may 
answer  him,  face  to  face  ;  for  he  never  saw  either 
us  or  the  Iroquois,  and  what  can  he  know  of  the 
plots  that  he  pretends  to  reveal  ?  "  1  Nicanope  had 
nothing  to  reply,  and,  grunting  assent  in  the  depths 
of  his  throat,  made  a  sign  that  the  feast  should 
proceed. 

The  French  were  lodged  in  huts,  near  the  Indian 
camp ;  and,  fearing  treachery,  La  Salle  placed  a 
guard  at  night.  On  the  morning  after  the  feast, 
he  came  out  into  the  frosty  air,  and  looked  about 
him  for  the  sentinels.  Not  one  of  them  was  to  be 
seen.  Vexed  and  alarmed,  he  entered  hut  after 
hut,  and  roused  his  drowsy  followers.  Six  of  the 
number,  including  two  of  the  best  carpenters,  were 
nowhere  to  be  found.  Discontented  and  mutinous 
from  the  first,  and  now  terrified  by  the  fictions  of 
Nicanope,  they  had  deserted,  preferring  the  hard- 
ships of  the  midwinter  forest  to  the  mysterious  ter- 
rors of  the  Mississippi.  La  Salle  mustered  the  rest 
before  him,  and  inveighed  sternly  against  the  cow- 
ardice and  baseness  of  those  who  had  thus  aban- 
doned him,  regardless  of  his  many  favors.  If  any 
here,  he  added,  are  afraid,  let  them  but  wait  till  the 
spring,  and  they  shall  have  free  leave  to  return  to 
Canada,  safely  and  without  dishonor.2 

This  desertion  cut  him  to  the  heart.     It  showed 


1  The  above  is  a  paraphrase,  with  some  condensation,  from  Hennepin, 
whose  account  is  sustained  by  the  other  writers. 

2  Hennepin  (1683),  162. — Declaration  faite  par  Moyse  Hillaret,  charpen- 
tier  de  barque,  cy  devant  au  service  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  MS. 


1680.]  LA   SALLE   AGAIN  POISONED.  165 

him  that  he  was  leaning  on  a  broken  reed  ;  and  he 
felt  that,  on  an  enterprise  full  of  doubt  and  peril, 
there  were  scarcely  four  men  in  his  party  whom  he 
could  trust.  Nor  was  desertion  the  worst  he  had 
to  fear ;  for  here,  as  at  Fort  Frontenac,  an  attempt 
was  made  to  kill  him.  Tonty  tells  us  that  poison 
was  placed  in  the  pot  in  which  their  food  was 
cooked,  and  that  La  Salle  was  saved  by  an  antidote 
which  some  of  his  friends  had  given  him  before  he 
left  France.  This,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  an 
epoch  of  poisoners.  It  was  in  the  following  month 
that  the  notorious  La  Voisin  was  burned  alive,  at 
Paris,  for  practices  to  which  many  of  the  highest 
nobility  were  charged  with  being  privy,  not  except- 
ing some  in  whose  veins  ran  the  blood  of  the 
gorgeous  spendthrift  who  ruled  the  destinies  of 
France.1 

In  these  early  French  enterprises  in  the  West,  it 
was  to  the  last  degree  difficult  to  hold  men  to  their 
duty.  Once  fairly  in  the  wilderness,  completely 
freed  from  the  sharp  restraints  of  authority  in  which 
they  had  passed  their  lives,  a  spirit  of  lawlessness 
broke  out  among  them  with  a  violence  proportioned 
to  the  pressure  which  had  hitherto  controlled  it. 
Discipline  had  no  resources  and  no  guarantee ; 
while  those  outlaws  of  the  forest,  the  coureurs  de 
bois,  were  always  before  their  eyes,  a  standing 
example  of  unbridled  license.     La  Salle,  eminently 

1  The  equally  famous  Brinvilliers  was  burned  four  years  before.  An 
account  of  both  will  be  found  in  the  Letters  of  Madame  de  Sevigne.  The 
memoirs  of  the  time  abound  in  evidence  of  the  frightful  prevalence  of 
these  practices,  and  the  commotion  which  they  excited  in  all  ranks  of 
society. 


166  LA  SALLE  ON  THE  ILLINOIS.  [1680. 

skilful  in  his  dealings  with  Indians,  was  rarely  so 
happy  with  his  own  countrymen ;  and  yet  the  de- 
sertions from  which  he  was  continually  suffering 
were,  due  far  more  to  the  inevitable  difficulty  of  his 
position  than  to  any  want  of  conduct. 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

1680. 
FORT   CREVECCEUR. 

Building  of  the  Fort.  — Loss  of  the  "  Griffin."  —  A  Bold  Resolution. 
—  Another  Vessel.  —  Hennepin  sent  to  the  Mississippi.  —  Depar- 
ture of  La  Salle. 

La  Salle  now  resolved  to  leave  the  Indian  camp, 
and  fortify  himself  for  the  winter  in  a  strong  posi- 
tion, where  his  men  would  be  less  exposed  to  dan- 
gerous influence,  and  where  he  could  hold  his 
ground  against  an  outbreak  of  the  Illinois  or  an 
Iroquois  invasion.  At  the  middle  of  January,  a 
thaw  broke  up  the  ice  which  had  closed  the 
river ;  and  he  set  out  in  a  canoe,  with  Hennepin,  to 
visit  the  site  he  had  chosen  for  his  projected  fort. 
It  was  half  a  league  below  the  camp,  on  a  little 
hill,  or  knoll,  two  hundred  yards  from  the  southern 
bank.  On  either  side  was  a  deep  ravine,  and,  in 
front,  a  low  ground,  overflowed  at  high  water. 
Thither,  then,  the  party  was  removed.  They  dug 
a  ditch  behind  the  hill,  connecting  the  two  ravines, 
and  thus  completely  isolating  it.  The  hill  was  near- 
ly square  in  form.  An  embankment  of  earth  was 
thrown  up  on  every  side  :  •  its  declivities  were  sloped 
steeply  down  to  the  bottom  of  the  ravines  and  the 


168  FORT  CREVECCEUR.  [1680 

ditch,  and  further  guarded  by  chevaux-de-frise ; 
while  a  palisade,  twenty-five  feet  high,  was  planted 
around  the  whole.  The  men  were  lodged  in  huts, 
at  the  angles:  in  the  middle  there. was  a  cabin  of 
planks  for  La  Salle  and  Tonty,  and  another  for  the 
three  friars  ;  while  the  blacksmith  had  his  shed  and 
forge  in  the  rear. 

Hennepin  laments  the  failure  of  wine,  which 
prevented  him  from  saying  mass  ;  but  every  morn- 
ing and  evening  he  summoned  the  men  to  his  cabin, 
to  listen  to  prayers  and  preaching,  and  on  Sundays 
and  fete  days  they  chanted  vespers.  Father  Ze- 
nobe  usually  spent  the  day  in  the  Indian  camp, 
striving,  with  very  indifferent  success,  to  win  them 
to  the  faith,  and  to  overcome  the  disgust  with  which 
their  manners  and  habits  inspired  him. 

Such  was  the  first  civilized  occupation  of  the 
region  which  now  forms  the  State  of  Illinois.  The 
spot  may  still  be  seen,  a  little  below  Peoria.  La 
Salle  christened  his  new  fort  Fort  Crevecceur.  The 
name  tells  of  disaster  and  suffering,  but  does  no 
justice  to  the  iron-hearted  constancy  of  the  sufferer. 
Up  to  this  time  he  had  clung  to  the  hope  that  his 
vessel  (the  ';  Griffin")  might  still  be  safe.  Her  safety 
was  vital  to  his  enterprise.  She  had  on  board  arti- 
cles of  the  last  necessity  to  him.  including  the  rig- 
ging and  anchors  of  another  vessel,  which  he  was  to 
build  at  Fort  Crevecceur.  in  order  to  descend  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  sail  thence  to  the  West  Indies.  But 
now  his  last  hope  had  well-nigh  vanished.  Past  all 
reasonable  doubt,  the  "  Griffin''  was  lost ;  and  in  her 
loss  he  and  all  his  plans  seemed  ruined  alike. 


1680.]  LOSS  OF   THE   "GRIFFIN."  169 

Nothing,  indeed,  was  ever  heard  of  her.  Indians, 
fur-traders,  and  even  Jesuits,  have  been  charged 
with  contriving  her  destruction.  Some  say  that  the 
Ottawas  boarded  and  burned  her,  after  murdering 
those  on  board  ;  others  accuse  the  Pottawattamies  ; 
others  affirm  that  her  own  crew  scuttled  and  sunk 
her ;  others,  again,  that  she  foundered  in  a  storm.1 
As  for  La  Salle,  the  belief  grew  in  him  to  a  settled 
conviction,  that  she  had  been  treacherously  sunk  by 
the  pilot  and  the  sailors  to  whom  he  had  intrusted 
her ;  and  he  thought  he  had  found  evidence  that 
the  authors  of  the  crime,  laden  with  the  merchan- 
dise they  had  taken  from  her,  had  reached  the  Mis- 
sissippi and  ascended  it,  hoping  to  join  Du  Lhut,  a 
famous  chief  of  coureurs  de  bois,  and  enrich  them- 
selves by  traffic  with  the  northern  tribes.2 

But  whether  her  lading  was  swallowed  in  the 
depths  of  the  lake,  or  lost  in  the  clutches  of  traitors, 
the  evil  was  alike  past  remedy.  She  was  gone,  it 
mattered  little  how.  The  main-stay  of  the  enter- 
prise was  broken ;  yet  its  inflexible  chief  lost  neither 

1  Charlevoix,  i.  459 ;  La  Potherie,  ii.  140 ;  La  Hontan,  Memoir  on  the 
Fur-Trade  of  Canada,  MS.  I  am  indebted  for  a  copy  of  this  paper  to 
Winthrop  Sargent,  Esq.,  who  purchased  the  original  at  the  sale  of  the 
library  of  the  poet  Southey.  Like  Hennepin,  La  Hontan  went  over  to 
the  English  ;  and  this  memoir  is  written  in  their  interest. 

2  Lettre  de  la  Salle  a  La  Barre,  Chicagou,  4  Juin,  1683,  MS.  This  is  a 
long  letter,  addressed  to  the  successor  of  Frontenac,  in  the  government 
of  Canada.  La  Salle  says  that  a  young  Indian  belonging  to  him  told  him 
that,  three  years  before,  he  saw.  a  white  man,  answering  the  description  of 
the  pilot,  a  prisoner  among  a  tribe  beyond  the  Mississippi.  He  had  been 
captured  with  four  others  on  that  river,  while  making  his  way  witli  canoes 
laden  with  goods,  towards  the  Sioux.  His  companions  had  been  killed. 
Other  circumstances,  which  La  Salle  details  at  great  length,  convinced 
him  that  the  white  prisoner  was  no  other  than  the  pilot  of  the  "  Griffin." 
The  evidence,  however,  is  not  conclusive. 

15 


170  FORT   CREVECCEUR.  [1680. 

heart  nor  hope.  One  path,  beset  with  hardships 
and  terrors,  still  lay  open  to  him.  He  might  return 
on  foot  to  Fort  Frontenac,  and  bring  thence  the 
needful  succors. 

La  Salle  felt  deeply  the  dangers  of  such  a  step. 
His  men  were  uneasy,  discontented,  and  terrified 
by  the  stories,  with  which  the  jealous  Illinois  still 
constantly  filled  their  ears,  of  the  whirlpools  and 
the  monsters  of  the  Mississippi.  He  dreaded,  lest, 
in  his  absence,  they  should  follow  the  example  of 
their  comrades,  and  desert.  In  the  midst  of  his 
anxieties,  a  lucky  accident  gave  him  the  means  of 
disabusing  them.  He  was  hunting,  one  day.  near 
the  fort,  when  he  met  a  young  Illinois,  on  his  way 
home,  half-starved,  from  a  distant  war  excursion. 
He  had  been  absent  so  long  that  he  knew  nothing 
of  what  had  passed  between  his  countrymen  and 
the  French.  La  Salle  gave  him  a  turkey  he  had 
shot,  invited  him  to  the  fort,  fed  him,  and  made  him 
presents.  Having  thus  warmed  his  heart,  he  ques- 
tioned him,  with  apparent  carelessness,  as  to  the 
countries  he  had  visited,  and  especially  as  to  the 
Mississippi,  on  which  the  young  warrior,  seeing  no 
reason  to  disguise  the  truth,  gave  him  all  the  infor- 
mation he  required.  La  Salle  now  made  him  the 
present  of  a  hatchet,  to  engage  him  to  say  nothing 
of  what  had  passed,  and,  leaving  him  in  excellent 
humor,  repaired,  with  some  of  his  followers,  to  the 
Illinois  camp.  Here  lie  found  the  chiefs  seated  at 
a  feast  of  bear's  meat,  and  he  took  his  place  among 
them  on  a 'mat  of  rushes.  After  a  pause,  he 
charged  them  with  having  deceived  him  in  regard 


1680.]  ANOTHER   VESSEL.  171 

to  the  Mississippi,  adding  that  he  knew  the  river 
perfectly,  having  been  instructed  concerning  it  by  the 
Master  of  Life.  He  then  described  it  to  them  with 
so  much  accuracy  that  his  astonished  hearers,  con- 
ceiving that  he  owed  his  knowledge  to  "  medicine," 
or  sorcery,  clapped  their  hands  to  their  mouths,  in 
sign  of  wonder,  and  confessed  that  all  they  had  said 
was  but  an  artifice,  inspired  by  their  earnest  desire 
that  he  should  remain  among  them.1 

Here  was  one  source  of  danger  stopped ;  one 
motive  to  desert  removed.  La  Salle  again  might 
feel  a  reasonable  security  that  idleness  would  not 
breed  mischief  among  his  men.  The  chief  purpose 
of  his  intended  journey  was  to  procure  the  equip- 
ment of  a  vessel,  to  be  built  at  Fort  Crevecceur ; 
and  he  resolved  that  before  he  set  out  he  would 
see  her  on  the  stocks.  The  pit-sawyers  and  some 
of  the  carpenters  had  deserted ;  but  energy  sup- 
plied the  place  of  skill,  and  he  and  Tonty  urged 
on  the  work  with  such  vigor  that  within  six  weeks 
the  hull  was  nearly  finished.  She  was  of  forty  tons 
burden,2  and  built  with  high  bulwarks  to  protect 
those  within  from  the  arrows  of  hostile  Indians. 

La  Salle  now  bethought  him  that  in  his  absence 
he  might  get  from  Hennepin  service  of  more  value 
than  his  sermons  ;  and  he  requested  him  to  descend 
the  Illinois,  and  explore  it  to  its  mouth.     The  friar, 

1  Relation  des  Decouvertes  et  des  Voyages  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  Seigneur  et 
Gouverneur  du  Fort  de  Frontenac,  au  dela  des  grands  Lacs  de  la  Nouvelle 
France,  fait  s  par  ordre  de  Monseigneur  Colbert;  1679,  80  et  81,  MS.  Hen- 
nepin gives  a  story  which  is  not  essentially  different,  except  that  he 
makes  himself  a  conspicuous  actor  in  it. 

2  Lettre  de  Duchesneau,  a ,  10  Nov.  1680,  MS. 


172  FORT  CREVECCEUK,  [1680. 

though  hardy  and  daring,  would  fain  have  excused 
himself,  alleging  a  troublesome  bodily  infirmity  ; 
but  his  venerable  colleague,  Ribourde,  —  himself 
too  old  for  the  journey,  —  urged  him  to  go,  telling 
him  that  if  he  died  by  the  way,  his  apostolic  labors 
would  redound  to  the  glory  of  God.  Membre  had 
been  living  for  some  time  in  the  Indian  camp,  and 
was  thoroughly  out  of  humor  with  the  objects  of 
his  missionary  efforts,  of  whose  obduracy  and  filth 
he  bitterly  complained.  Hennepin  proposed  to  take 
his  place,  while  he  should  assume  the  Mississippi 
adventure  ;  but  this  Membre  declined,  preferring  to 
remain  where  he  was.  Hennepin  now  reluctantly 
accepted  the  proposed  task.  "  Anybody  but  me," 
he  says,  with  his  usual  modesty,  "  would  have  been 
very  much  frightened  at  the  dangers  of  such  a 
journey  ;  and,  in  fact,  if  I  had  not  placed  all  my 
trust  in  God,  I  should  not  have  been  the  dupe 
of  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  exposed  my  life 
rashly."  J 

On  the  last  day  of  February,  Hennepin's  canoe 
lay  at  the  water's  edge  ;  and  the  party  gathered  on 
the  bank  to  bid  him  farewell.  He  had  two  com- 
panions, Michel  Accau,  and  a  man  known  as  the 
Picard  Du  Gay,2  though  his  real  name  was  Antoine 
Auguel.  The  canoe  was  well  laden  with  gifts  for 
the   Indians,  —  tobacco,   knives,   beads,   awls,   and 


1  "  Tout  autre  que  moi  en  auroit  e'te  fort  ebranle.  Et  en  effet,  je 
n'eusse  pas  e'te  la  duppe  du  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  qui  m'exposait  te'me'raire- 
ment,  si  je  n'eusse  mis  toute  ma  confiance  en  Dieu  "  (1704),  241. 

2  An  eminent  writer  has  mistaken  "  Picard  "  for  a  personal  name. 
Du  Gay  was  called  "  Le  Picard,"  because  he  came  from  the  province  of 
Picardy.     Accau,  and  not  Hennepin,  was  the  real  chief  of  the  party. 


1680.]  LA  SALLE'S  JOURNEY.  173 

other  goods,  to  a  very  considerable  value,  supplied 
at  La  Salle's  cost ;  "  and,  in  fact,1'  observes  Henne- 
pin, "  he  is  liberal  enough  towards  his  friends."  1 

The  friar  bade  farewell  to  La  Salle,  and  embraced 
all  the  rest  in  turn.  Father  Ribourde  gave  him  his 
benediction.  "Be  of  good  courage  and  let  your 
heart  be  comforted,"  said  the  excellent  old  mission- 
ary, as  he  spread  his  hands  in  benediction  over  the 
shaven  crown  of  the  reverend  traveller.  Du  Gay 
and  Accau  plied  their  paddles ;  the  canoe  receded, 
and  vanished  at  length  behind  the  forest.  We 
will  follow  Hennepin  hereafter  on  his  adventures, 
imaginary  and  real.  Meanwhile,  we  will  trace  the 
footsteps  of  his  chief,  urging  his  way,  in  the  storms 
of  winter,  through  those  vast  and  gloomy  wilds,  — 
those  realms  of  famine,  treachery,  and  death,  that 
lay  betwixt  him  and  his  far-distant  goal  of  Fort 
Frontenac. 

On  the  second  of  March,2  before  the  frost  was 
yet  out  of  the  ground,  when  the  forest  was  still 
leafless  and  gray,  and  the  oozy  prairie  still  patched 
with  snow,  a  band  of  discontented  men  were  again 
gathered  on  the  shore  for  another  leave-taking. 
Hard  by,  the  unfinished  ship  lay  on  the  stocks, 
white  and  fresh  from  the  saw  and  axe,  ceaselessly 
reminding  them  of  the  hardship  and  peril  that  was 
in  store.  Here  you  would  have  seen  the  calm 
impenetrable  face  of  La  Salle,  and  with  him  the 
Mohegan  hunter,  who  seems  to  have  felt  towards 

'  (1683),  188.  This  commendation  is  suppressed  in  the  later  edi- 
tions. 

2  Tonty  erroneously  places  their  departure  on  the  twenty-second. 

15* 


174  FORT   CREVECCEUR.  [1680. 

him  that  admiring  attachment  which  he  could  al- 
ways inspire  in  his  Indian  retainers.  Besides  the 
Mohegan,  four  Frenchmen  were  to  accompany 
him :  Hunaud,  La  Violette,  Collin,  and  Dautray.1 
His  parting  with  Tonty  was  an  anxious  one,  for 
each  well  knew  the  risks  that  environed  both. 
Embarking  with  his  followers  in  two  canoes,  he 
made  his  way  upward  amid  the  drifting  ice  ;  while 
the  faithful  Italian,  with  two  or  three  honest  men 
and  twelve  or  thirteen  knaves,  remained  to  hold 
Fort  Crevecceur  in  his  absence. 

1  Declaration  faite  par  Moyse  HiUaret,  charpentier  de  barque,  MS. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

1680. 
HAKDIHOOD   OF  LA   SALLE. 

The  Winter  Journey.  —  The  Deserted  Town.  —  Starved  Rock. — 
Lake  Michigan.  —  The  Wilderness.  —  War  Parties.  —  La  Salle's 
Men  give  out.  —  III  Tidings.  —  Mutiny.  —  Chastisement  of  the 
Mutineers. 

The  winter  had  been  a  severe  one.  When 
La  Salle  and  his  five  companions  reached  Peoria 
Lake,  they  found  it  sheeted  from  shore  to  shore 
with  ice  that  stopped  the  progress  of  their  canoes, 
but  was  too  thin  to  bear  the  weight  of  a  man. 
They  dragged  their  light  vessels  up  the  bank  and 
into  the  forest,'  where  the  city  of  Peoria  now 
stands ;  made  two  rude  sledges,  placed  the  canoes 
and  baggage  upon  them,  and,  toiling  knee-deep  in 
saturated  snow,  dragged  them  four  leagues  through 
the  woods,  till  they  reached  a  point  where  the 
motion  of  the  current  kept  the  water  partially 
open.  They  were  now  on  the  river  above  the 
lake.  Masses  of  drift  ice,  wedged  together,  but 
full  of  crevices  and  holes,  soon  barred  the  way 
again  ;  and,  carrying  their  canoes  ashore,  they 
dragged  them  two  leagues  over  a  frozen  marsh. 
Rain  fell  in  floods  ;  and,  when  night  came,  they 
crouched  for  shelter  in  a  deserted  Indian  hut. 


176  HARDIHOOD   OF   LA   SALLE.  [1680. 

In  the  morning,  the  third  of  March,  they  dragged 
their  canoes  half  a  league  farther ;  then  launched 
them,  and,  breaking  the  ice  with  clubs  and  hatchets, 
forced  their  way  slowly  up  the  stream.  Again  their 
progress  was  barred,  and  again  they  took  to  the 
woods,  toiling  onward  till  a  tempest  of  moist,  half- 
liquid  snow  forced  them  to  bivouac  for  the  night. 
A  sharp  frost  followed,  and  in  the  morning  the 
white  waste  around  them  was  glazed  with  a  daz- 
zling crust.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  they  could 
use  their  snow-shoes.  Bending  to  their  work, 
dragging  their  canoes  which  glided  smoothly  over 
the  polished  surface,  they  journeyed  on  hour  after 
hour  and  league  after  league,  till  they  reached  at 
length  the  great  town  of  the  Illinois,  still  void  of 
its  inhabitants.1 

It  was  a  desolate  and  lonely  scene,  —  the  river 
gliding  dark  and  cold  between  its  banks  of  rushes  ; 
the  empty  lodges,  covered  with  crusted  snow ;  the 
vast  white  meadows ;  the  distant  cliffs,  bearded 
with  shining  icicles  ;  and  the  hills  wrapped  in 
forests,  which  glittered  from  afar  with  the  icy 
incrustations  that  cased  each  frozen  twig.  Yet 
there  was  life  in  the  savage  landscape.  The  men 
saw  buffalo  wading  in  the  snow,  and  they  killed 
one  of  them.  More  than  this  :  they  discovered  the 
tracks  of  moccasons.  They  cut  rushes  by  the  edge 
of  the  river,  piled  them  on  the  bank,  and  set  them 


1  Membre  says  that  he  wa9  in  the  town  at  the  time,  but  this  could 
hardly  have  been  the  case.  He  was,  in  all  probability,  among  the  Illinois 
in  their  camp  near  Fort  Crevecoeur. 


1680.]  INDIANS.  177 

on  fire,  that  the  smoke  might  attract  the  eyes  of 
savages  roaming  near. 

On  the  following  day,  while  the  hunters  were 
smoking  the  meat  of  the  buffalo,  La  Salle  went  out 
to  reconnoitre,  and  presently  met  three  Indians,  one 
of  whom  proved  to  be  Chassagoac,  the  principal 
chief  of  the  Illinois.1  La  Salle  brought  them  to 
his  bivouac,  feasted  them,  gave  them  a  red  blanket, 
a  kettle,  and  some  knives  and  hatchets,  made  friends 
with  them,  promised  to  restrain  the  Iroquois  from 
attacking  them,  told  them  that  he  was  on  his  way 
to  the  settlements  to  bring  arms  and  ammunition 
to  defend  them  against  their  enemies,  and,  as  the 
result  of  these  advances,  gained  from  the  chief  a 
promise  that  he  would  send  provisions  to  Tonty's 
party  at  Fort  Crevecceur. 

After  several  days  spent  at  the  deserted  town, 
La  Salle  prepared  to  resume  his  journey.  Before 
his  departure,  his  attention  was  attracted  to  the 
remarkable  cliff  of  yellow  sandstone,  now  called 
Starved  Rock,  a  mile  or  more  above  the  village,  — 
a  natural  fortress,  which  a  score  of  resolute  white 
men  might  make  good  against  a  host  of  savages  ; 
and  he  soon  afterwards  sent  Tonty  an  order  to 
examine  it,  and  make  it  his  stronghold  in  case  of 
need.2 

1  The  same  whom  Hennepin  calls  Chassagouasse.  He  was  brother 
of  the  chief,  Nicanope',  who,  in  his  absence,  had  feasted  the  French  on 
the  day  after  the  nocturnal  council  with  Monso.  Chassagoac  was  after- 
wards baptized  by  Membre  or  Ribourde,  but  soon  relapsed  into  the  super- 
stitions of  his  people,  and  died,  as  the  former  tells  us,  "  doubly  a  child  of 
perdition."     See  Le  Clercq,  ii.  181. 

2  Tonty,  Me'moire,  MS.  The  order  was  sent  by  two  Frenchmen  whom 
La  Salle  met  on  Lake  Michigan. 


178  •      HARDIHOOD   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1680. 

On  the  fifteenth,  the  party  set  out  again,  carried 
their  canoes  along  the  bank  of  the  river  as  far  as 
the  rapids  above  Ottawa ;  then  launched  them  and 
pushed  their  way  upward,  battling  with  the  floating 
ice,  which,  loosened  by  a  warm  rain,  drove  down 
the  swollen  current  in  sheets.  On  the  eighteenth. 
they  reached  a  point  some  miles  belowT  the  site  of 
Joliet,  and  here  found  the  river  once  more  com- 
pletely closed.  Despairing  of  farther  progress  by 
water,  they  hid  their  canoes  on  an  island,  and  struck 
across  the  country  for  Lake  Michigan.  Each,  be- 
sides his  gun,  carried  a  knife  and  a  hatchet  at  his 
belt,  a  blanket  strapped  at  his  back,  and  a  piece  of 
dressed  hide  to  make  or  mend  his  moccasons.  A 
store  of  powder  and  lead,  and  a  kettle,  completed 
the  outfit  of  the  party.1 

It  was  the  worst  of  all  seasons  for  such  a  journey. 
The  nights  were  cold,  but  the  sun  was  warm  at 
noon,  and  the  half-thawed  prairie  was  one  vast 
tract  of  mud,  water,  and  discolored,  half-liquid  snow. 
On  the  twenty-second,  they  crossed  marshes  and 
inundated  meadows,  wading  to  the  knee,  till  at 
noon  they  were  stopped  by  a  river,  perhaps  the 
Calumet.  They  made  a  raft  of  hard  wood  timber, 
for  there  was  no  other,  and  shoved  themselves 
across.  On  the  next  day,  they  could  see  Lake 
Michigan,  dimly  glimmering  beyond  the  waste  of 
woods  ;  and,  after  crossing  three  swollen  streams, 
they  reached  it  at  evening.  On  the  twenty-fourth, 
they  followed  its  shore,  till,  at  nightfall,  they  arrived 

i  Hennepin  (1683),  173. 


1G80.]  THE   WILDERNESS   OF  MICHIGAN.  179 

at  the  fort,  which  they  had  built  in  the  autumn  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph.  Here  La  Salle  found 
Chapelle  and  Leblanc,  the  two  men  whom  he  had 
sent  from  hence  to  Michillimackinac,  in  search  of 
the  "  Griffin."  1  They  reported  that  they  had  made 
the  circuit  of  the  lake,  and  had  neither  seen  her 
nor  heard  tidings  of  her.  Assured  of  her  fate,  he 
ordered  them  to  rejoin  Tonty  at  Fort  Crevecceur ; 
while  he  pushed  onward  with  his  party  through 
the  unknown  wild  of  Southern  Michigan. 

They  were  detained  till  noon  of  the  twenty-fifth, 
in  making  a  raft  to  cross  the  St.  Joseph.  Then 
they  resumed  their  march ;  and  as  they  forced  their 
way  through  the  brambly  thickets,  their  clothes  were 
torn,  and  their  faces  so  covered  with  blood,  that, 
says  the  journal,  they  could  hardly  know  each  other. 
Game  was  very  scarce,  and  they  grew  faint  with 
hunger.  In  two  or  three  days  they  reached  a 
happier  region.  They  shot  deer,  bears,  and  turkeys 
in  the  forest,  and  fared  sumptuously.  But  the  re- 
ports of  their  guns  fell  on  hostile  ears.  This  was 
a  debatable  ground,  infested  with  war-parties  of 
several  adverse  tribes,  and  none  could  venture  here 
without  risk  of  life.  On  the  evening  of  the  twenty- 
eighth,  as  they  lay  around  their  fire  under  the  shel- 
ter of  a  forest  by  the  border  of  a  prairie,  the  man 
on  guard  shouted  an  alarm.  They  sprang  to  their 
feet ;  and  each,  gun  in  hand,  took  his  stand  behind 
a  tree,  while  yells  and  howlings  filled  the  surround- 
ing darkness.    A  band  of  Indians  were  upon  them ; 

1  Declaration  de  Moyse  Hillaret,  MS.    Relation  des  De'couvertes,  MS. 


180  HARDIHOOD   OF   LA   SALLE.  [1680. 

but,  seeing  them  prepared,  the  cowardly  assailants 
did  not  wait  to  exchange  a  shot. 

They  crossed  great  meadows,  overgrown  with 
rank  grass,  and  set  it  on  fire  to  hide  the  traces 
of  their  passage.  La  Salle  bethought  him  of  a 
device  to  keep  their  skulking  foes  at  a  distance. 
On  the  trunks  of  trees  from  which  he  had  stripped 
the  bark,  he  drew  with  charcoal  the  marks  of  an 
Iroquois  war-party,  with  the  usual  signs  for  prison- 
ers, and  for  scalps,  hoping  to  delude  his  pursuers 
with  the  belief  that  he  and  his  men  were  a  band 
of  these  dreaded  warriors. 

Thus,  over  snowy  prairies  and  half-frozen  marshes; 
wading  sometimes  to  their  waists  in  mud,  water,  and 
bulrushes,  they  urged  their  way  through  the  spongy, 
saturated  wilderness.  During  three  successive  days 
they  were  aware  that  a  party  of  savages  was  dog- 
ging their  tracks.  They  dared  not  make  a  fire  at 
night,  lest  the  light  should  betray  them ;  but,  hanging 
their  wet  clothes  on  the  trees,  they  rolled  them- 
selves in  their  blankets,  and  slept  together  among 
piles  of  spruce  and  pine  boughs.  But  the  night 
of  the  second  of  April  was  excessively  cold.  Their 
clothes  were  hard  frozen,  and  they  were  forced  to 
kindle  a  fire  to  thaw  and  dry  them.  Scarcely  had 
the  light  begun  to  glimmer  through  the  gloom  of 
evening,  than  it  was  greeted  from  the  distance  by 
mingled  yells  ;  and  a  troop  of  Mascoutin  warriors 
rushed  towards  them.  They  were  stopped  by  a 
deep  stream,  a  hundred  paces  from  the  bivouac  of 
the  French,  and  La  Salle  went  forward  to  meet 
them.     No  sooner  did  they  see  him,  and  learn  that 


1680.]  THE  DETROIT.  181 

he  was  a  Frenchman,  than  they  cried  that  they  were 
friends  and  brothers,  who  had  mistaken  him  and 
his  men  for  Iroquois ;  and,  abandoning  their  hos- 
tile purpose,  they  peacefully  withdrew.  Thus  his 
device  to  avert  danger  had  well-nigh  proved  the 
destruction  of  the  whole  party. 

Two  days  after  this  adventure,  two  of  the  men 
fell  ill  from  fatigue  and  exposure,  and  sustained 
themselves  with  difficulty  till  they  reached  the  banks 
of  a  river,  probably  the  Huron.  Here,  while  the 
sick  men  rested,  their  companions  made  a  canoe. 
There  were  no  birch-trees ;  and  they  were  forced 
to  use  elm  bark,  which  at  that  early  season  would 
not  slip  freely  from  the  wood  until  they  loosened 
it  with  hot  water.  Their  canoe  being  made,  they 
embarked  in  it,  and  for  a  time  floated  prosperously 
down  the  stream,  when  at  length  the  way  was  barred 
by  a  matted  barricade  of  trees  fallen  across  the 
water.  The  sick  men  could  now  walk  again ;  and, 
pushing  eastward  through  the  forest,  the  party  soon 
reached  the  banks  of  the  Detroit. 

La  Salle  directed  two  of  the  men  to  make  a  canoe, 
and  go  to  Michillimackinac,  the  nearest  harborage. 
With  the  remaining  two,  he  crossed  the  Detroit  on 
a  raft,  and,  striking  a  direct  line  across  the  coun- 
try, reached  Lake  Erie,  not  far  from  Point  Pelee. 
Snow,  sleet,  and  rain  pelted  them  with  little  inter- 
mission ;  and  when,  after  a  walk  of  about  thirty 
miles,  they  gained  the  lake,  the  Mohegan  and  one 
of  the  Frenchmen  were  attacked  with  fever  and 
spitting  of  blood.  Only  one  man  now  remained  in 
health.    With  his  aid,  La  Salle  made  another  canoe, 

16 


182  HARDIHOOD   OF  LA  SALLE.  [1680. 

and,  embarking  the  invalids,  pushed  for  Niagara. 
It  was  Easter  Monday,  when  they  landed  at  a  cabin 
of  logs  above  the  cataract,  probably  on  the  spot 
where  the  "  Griffin"  was  built.  Here  several  of  La 
Salle's  men  had  been  left  the  year  before,  and  here 
they  still  remained.  They  told  him  woful  news. 
Not  only  had  he  lost  the  "  Griffin,"  and  her  lading 
of  ten  thousand  crowns  in  value,  but  a  ship  from 
France,  freighted  with  his  goods,  valued  at  more 
than  twenty-two  thousand  livres,  had  been  totally 
wrecked  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence ;  and 
of  twenty  hired  men  on  their  way  from  Europe  to 
join  him,  some  had  been  detained  by  his  enemy, 
the  Intendant  Duchesneau,  Avhile  all  but  four 
of  the  remainder,  being  told  that  he  was  dead, 
had  found  means  to  return  home. 

His  three  followers  were  all  unfit  for  travel :  he 
alone  retained  his  strength  and  spirit.  Taking 
with  him  three  fresh  men  at  Niagara,  he  resumed 
his  journey,  and  on  the  sixth  of  May  descried, 
looming  through  floods  of  rain,  the  familiar  shores 
of  his  seigniory  and  the  bastioned  walls  of  Fort 
Frontenac.  During  sixty-five  days  he  had  toiled 
almost  incessantly,  travelling,  by  the  course  he 
took,  about  a  thousand  miles  through  a  country 
beset  with  every  form  of  peril  and  obstruction ; 
"  the  most  arduous  journey,"  says  the  chronicler, 
"  ever  made  by  Frenchmen  in  America."  Such 
was  Cavelier  de  la  Salle.  In  him,  an  unconquer- 
able mind  held  at  its  service  a  frame  of  iron,  and 
tasked  it  to  the  utmost  of  its  endurance.  The 
pioneer  of  western  pioneers  was  no  rude  son  of 


1680.]  THE   MUTINEERS.  183 

toil,  but  a  man  of  thought,  trained  amid  arts  and 
letters.1 

He  had  reached  his  goal ;  but  for  him  there  was 
neither  rest  nor  peace.  Man  and  nature  seemed 
in  arms  against  him.  His  agents  had  plundered 
him ;  his  creditors  had  seized  his  property ;  and 
several  of  his  canoes,  richly  laden,  had  been  lost  in 
the  rapids  of  the  St.  Lawrence.2  He  hastened  to 
Montreal,  where  his  sudden  advent  caused  great 
astonishment ;  and  where,  despite  his  crippled  re- 
sources and  damaged  credit,  he  succeeded,  within 
a  week,  in  gaining  the  supplies  which  he  required, 
and  the  needful  succors  for  the  forlorn  band  on  the 
Illinois.  He  had  returned  to  Fort  Frontenac,  and 
was  on  the  point  of  embarking  for  their  relief, 
when  a  blow  fell  upon  him  more  disheartening 
than  any  that  had  preceded.  On  the  twenty-second 
of  July,  two  voyageurs,  Messier  and  Laurent,  came 
to  him  with  a  letter  from  Tonty  ;  who  wrote  that 
soon  after  La  Salle's  departure,  nearly  all  the  men 
had  deserted,  after  destroying  Fort  Crevecceur,  plun- 
dering the  magazine,  and  throwing  into  the  river  all 
the  arms,  goods,  and  stores  which  they  could  not 
carry  off.  The  messengers  who  brought  this  letter 
were  speedily  followed  by  two  of  the  habitans  of 

1  A  Rocky  Mountain  trapper,  being  complimented  on  the  hardihood 
of  himself  and  his  companions,  once  said  to  the  writer,  "  That's  so;  but  a 
gentleman  of  the  right  sort  will  stand  hardship  better  than  anybody  else." 
The  history  of  Arctic  and  African  travel,  and  the  military  records  of  all 
time,  are  a  standing  evidence  that  a  trained  and  developed  mind  is  not 
the  enemy,  but  the  active  and  powerful  ally,  of  constitutional  hardihood. 
The  culture  that  enervates  instead  of  strengthening  is  always  a  false  or  a 
partial  one. 

2  Zenobe  Membre  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  202. 


184  HARDIHOOD   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1680. 

Fort  Frontenac,  who  had  been  trading  on  the 
lakes,  and  who,  with  a  fidelity  which  the  unhappy 
La  Salle  rarely  knew  how  to  inspire,  had  travelled 
day  and  night  to  bring  him  their  tidings.  They 
reported  that  they  had  met  the  deserters,  and  that 
having  been  reinforced  by  recruits  gained  at  Michil- 
limackinac  and  Niagara,  they  now  numbered  twenty 
men.1  They  had  destroyed  the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph, 
seized  a  quantity  of  furs  belonging  to  La  Salle  at 
Michillimackinac,  and  plundered  the  magazine  at 
Niagara.  Here  they  had  separated,  eight  of  them 
coasting  the  south  side  of  Lake  Ontario  to  find 
harborage  at  Albany,  a  common  refuge  at  that 
time  of  this  class  of  scoundrels ;  while  the  re- 
maining twelve,  in  three  canoes,  made  for  Fort 
Frontenac  along  the  north  shore,  intending  to  kill 
La  Salle  as  the  surest  means  of  escaping  punish- 
ment. 

He  lost  no  time  in  lamentation.  Of  the  few 
men  at  his  command,  he  chose  nine  of  the  trustiest, 
embarked  with  them  in  canoes,  and  went  to  meet 
the  marauders.  After  passing  the  Bay  of  Quinte, 
he  took  his  station  with  five  of  his  party  at  a  point 

1  When  La  Salle  was  at  Niagara,  in  April,  he  had  ordered  Dautrav, 
the  best  of  the  men  who  had  accompanied  him  from  the  Illinois,  to  return 
thither  as  soon  as  he  was  able.  Four  men  from  Niagara  were  to  go  with 
him,  and  he  was  to  rejoin  Tonty  with  such  supplies  as  that  post  could 
furnish.  Dautrav  set  out  accordingly,  but  was  met  on  the  lakes  by  the 
deserters,  who  told  him  that  Tonty  was  dead,  and  seduced  his  men. — 
Relation  des  D&ouvertes,  MS.  Dautrav  himself  seems  to  have  remained 
true;  at  least  he  was  in  La  Salle's  service  immediately  after,  and  waa 
one  of  his  most  trusted  followers.  He  was  of  good  birth,  being  the 
son  of  Jean  Bourdon,  a  conspicuous  personage  in  the  early  period  of 
the  colony,  and  his  name  appears  on  official  records  as  Jean  Bourdon, 
Sieur  d'Autrav. 


1680.]  CHASTISEMENT.  185 

of  land  suited  to  his  purpose,  and  detached  the 
remaining  four  to  keep  watch.  In  the  morning 
two  canoes  were  discovered,  approaching  without 
suspicion,  one  of  them  far  in  advance  of  the  other. 
As  the  foremost  drew  near,  La  Salle's  canoe  darted 
out  from  under  the  leafy  shore  ;  two  of  the  men 
handling  the  paddles,  while  he  with  the  remaining 
two  levelled  their  guns  at  the  deserters,  and  called 
on  them  to  surrender.  Astonished  and  dismayed, 
they  yielded  at  once  ;  while  two  more  who  were  in 
the  second  canoe  hastened  to  follow  their  example. 
La  Salle  now  returned  to  the  fort  with  his  pris- 
oners, placed  them  in  custody,  and  again  set  forth. 
He  met  the  third  canoe  upon  the  lake  at  about  six 
o'clock  in  the  evening.  His  men  vainly  plied  their 
paddles  in  pursuit.  The  mutineers  reached  the 
shore,  took  post  among  rocks  and  trees,  levelled 
their  guns,  and  showed  fight.  Four  of  La  Salle's 
men  made  a  circuit  to  gain  their  rear  and  dislodge 
them ;  on  which  they  stole  back  to  their  canoe,  and 
tried  to  escape  in  the  darkness.  They  were  pur- 
sued, and  summoned  to  yield  ;  but  they  replied  by 
aiming  their  guns  at  their  pursuers,  who  instantly 
gave  them  a  volley,  killed  two  of  them,  and  cap- 
tured the  remaining  three.  Like  their  companions, 
they  were  placed  in  custody  at  the  fort  to  await  the 
arrival  of  Count  Frontenac.1 


1  The  story  of  La  Salle's  journey  from  Fort  Crevecoeur  to  Fort  Fron- 
tenac, witli  his  subsequent  encounter  with  the  mutineers,  is  given  in  great 
detail  in  the  unpublished  Relation  des  /Mcouvertes.  This  and  other  portions 
of  it  are  compiled,  with  little  abridgment,  from  the  letters  of  La  Salle  him- 
self, some  of  which  are  still  in  existence.  They  give  the  particulars  of 
each  day  with  a  cool  and  business-like  simplicity,  recounting  facts  with- 

16* 


186  HARDIHOOD    OF  LA   SALLE.  [1680. 

out  comment  or  the  slightest  attempt  at  rhetorical  embellishment.  This 
is  the  authority  for  the  details  of  the  journey  :  the  general  statement  is 
confirmed  by  Membre',  Hennepin,  and  Tonty.  The  Memoire  of  Tonty, 
though  too  concise,  is  excellent  authority,  and  must  by  no  means  be  con- 
founded with  the  Relation  de  la  Louisiane,  to  which  his  name  is  falsely 
affixed. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1680. 
INDIAN  CONQUERORS. 

The  Enterprise  renewed.  —  Attempt  to  rescue  Tonty.  —  Buffalo.  — 
A  Frightful  Discovery.  —  Iroquois  Fury  — The  Ruined  Town. — 
A  Night  of  Horror.  —  Traces  of  the  Invaders.  —  No  News  of 
Tonty. 

And  now  La  Salle's  work  must  be  begun  afresh. 
He  had  staked  all,  and  all  had  seemingly  been 
lost.  In  stern  relentless  effort  he  had  touched  the 
limits  of  human  endurance  ;  and  the  harvest  of  his 
toils  was  disappointment,  disaster,  and  impending 
ruin.  The  shattered  fabric  of  his  enterprise  was 
prostrate  in  the  dust.  His  friends  desponded  ;  his 
foes  were  blatant  and  exultant.  Did  he  bend  be- 
fore the  storm  I  No  human  eye  could  pierce  the 
veiled  depths  of  his  reserved  and  haughty  nature ; 
but  the  surface  was  calm,  and  no  sign  betrayed  a 
shaken  resolve  or  an  altered  purpose.  Where 
weaker  men  would  have  abandoned  all  in  de- 
spairing apathy,  he  turned  anew  to  his  work  with 
the  same  vigor  and  the  same  apparent  confidence 
as  if  borne  on  the  full  tide  of  success. 

His  best  hope  was  in  Tonty.  Could  that  brave 
and  true-hearted  officer,  and  the  three  or  four  faith- 


188  INDIAN   CONQUERORS.  [1680. 

ful  men  who  had  remained  with  him,  make  good 
their  foothold  on  the  Illinois,  and  save  from  de- 
struction the  vessel  on  the  stocks,  and  the  forge 
and  tools  so  laboriously  carried  thither,  —  then,  in- 
deed, a  basis  was  left  on  which  the  ruined  enter- 
prise might  be  built  up  once  more.  There  was  no 
time  to  lose.  Tonty  must  be  succored  soon,  or 
succor  would  come  too  late.  La  Salle  had  already 
provided  the  necessary  material,  and  a  few  days 
sufficed  to  complete  his  preparations.  On  the  tenth 
of  August,  he  embarked  again  for  the  Illinois. 
With  him  went  his  lieutenant,  La  Forest,  who 
held  of  him  in  fief  an  island,  then  called  Belle 
Isle,  opposite  Fort  Frontenac.1  A  surgeon,  ship- 
carpenters,  joiners,  masons,  soldiers,  voyageurs,  and 
laborers  completed  his  company,  twenty-five  men 
in  all,  with  every  thing  needful  for  the  outfit  of  the 
vessel. 

His  route,  though  difficult,  was  not  so  long  as 
that  which  he  had  followed  the  year  before.  He 
ascended  the  River  Humber ;  crossed  to  Lake  Sim- 
coe,  and  thence  descended  the  Severn  to  the 
Georgian  Bay  of  Lake  Huron  ;  followed  its  eastern 
shore,  coasted  the  Manitoulin  Islands,  and  at 
length  reached  Michillimackinac.  Here,  as  usual, 
all  was  hostile ;  and  he  had  great  difficulty  in 
inducing  the  Indians,  who  had  been  excited  against 
him,  to  sell  him  provisions.  Anxious  to  reach  his 
destination,  he  pushed  forward  with  twelve  men, 
leaving  La  Forest  to  bring  on  the  rest.     On  the 

1  Robert  Cavelier,  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  a  Franqois  Daupin,  Sr-  de  la  Forest,  10 
Juin,  1679,  MS. 


1680.J  BUFFALO.  189 

fourth  of  November,1  he  reached  the  ruined  fort  at 
the  mouth  of  the  St.  Joseph,  and  left  five  of  his 
party,  with  the  heavy  stores,  to  wait  till  La  Forest 
should  come  up,  while  he  himself  hastened  for- 
ward with  six  Frenchmen  and  an  Indian.  A  deep 
anxiety  possessed  him.  For  some  time  past,  ru- 
mors had  been  abroad  that  the  Iroquois  were 
preparing  to  invade  the  country  of  the  Illinois, 
bent  on  expelling  or  destroying  them.  Here  was 
a  new  disaster,  which,  if  realized,  might  involve 
him  and  his  enterprise  in  irretrievable  wreck. 

He  ascended  the  St.  Joseph,  crossed  the  portage 
to  the  Kankakee,  and  followed  its  course  downward 
till  it  joined  the  northern  branch  of  the  Illinois. 
He  had  heard  nothing  of  Tonty  on  the  way,  and 
neither  here  nor  elsewhere  could  he  discover  the 
smallest  sign  of  the  passage  of  white  men.  His 
friend,  therefore,  if  alive,  was  probably  still  at  his 
post ;  and  he  pursued  his  course  with  a  mind  light- 
ened, in  some  small  measure,  of  its  load  of  anxiety. 

When  last  he  had  passed  here,  all  was  solitude  ; 
but  now  the  scene  was  changed.  The  boundless 
waste  was  thronged  with*life.  He  beheld  that 
wondrous  spectacle,  still  to  be  seen  at  times  on  the 
plains  of  the  remotest  West,  and  the  memory  of 
which  can  quicken  the  pulse  and  stir  the  blood 
after  the  lapse  of  years.  Far  and  near,  the  prairie 
was  alive  with  buffalo ;  now  like  black  specks 
dotting  the  distant   swells ;  now  trampling   by   in 

1  This  date  is  from  the  Relation.  Membre  says  the  twenty  -eighth ; 
but  he  is  wrong,  by  his  own  showing,  as  he  says  that  the  party  reached 
the  Dlinois  village  on  the  first  of  December,  —  an  impossibility. 


190  INDIAN   CONQUERORS.  [1680. 

ponderous  columns,  or  filing  in  long  lines,  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  night,  to  drink  at  the  river,  — 
wading,  plunging,  and  snorting  in  the  water ; 
climbing  the  muddy  shores,  and  staring  with  wild 
eyes  at  the  passing  canoes.  It  was  an  opportunity 
not  to  be  lost.  The  party  landed,  and  encamped 
for  a  hunt.  Sometimes  they  hid  under  the  shelving 
bank,  and  shot  them  as  they  came  to  drink ;  some- 
times, flat  on  their  faces,  they  dragged  themselves 
through  the  long  dead  grass,  till  the  savage  bulls, 
guardians  of  the  herd,  ceased  their  grazing,  raised 
their  huge  heads,  and  glared  through  tangled  hair 
at  the  dangerous  intruders  ;  their  horns  splintered 
and  their  grim  front  scarred  with  battles,  while 
their  shaggy  mane,  like  a  gigantic  lion,  well-nigh 
swept  the  ground.1  The  hunt  was  successful.  In 
three  days,  the  hunters  killed  twelve  buffalo,  be- 

1  I  have  a  very  vivid  recollection  of  the  appearance  of  an  old  buffalo 
bull  under  such  circumstances.  When  I  was  within  a  hundred  yards 
of  him,  he  came  towards  me  at  a  sharp  trot  as  if  to  make  a  charge  ;  but, 
as  I  remained  motionless,  he  stopped  thirty  paces  off  and  stared  fixedly 
for  a  long  time.  At  length,  he  slowly  turned,  and,  in  doing  so,  received 
a  shot  behind  the  shoulder,  which  killed  him.  It  is  useless  to  fire  at  the 
forehead  of  a  buffalo  bull,  at  least  with  an  ordinary  rifle,  as  the  bullet 
flattens  against  his  skull.  A  shot  at  close  quarters,  just  above  the  nose, 
would  probably  turn  him  in  a  charge.  The  usual  modes  of  hunting  buf- 
falo on  foot  are  those  mentioned  above.  They  are  commonly  successful ; 
but  at  times  the  animals  are  excessively  shy  and  wary,  while  at  other 
times  they  are  stupid  beyond  measure,  and  can  be  easily  approached  and 
killed.  The  hunter  must  remain  perfectly  motionless  after  firing,  as 
the  wounded  animal  is  apt  to  make  a  rush  at  him  if  he  moves.  The 
most  agreeable  mode  of  hunting  buffalo  is,  however,  on  horseback, 
running  alongside  of  them,  and  shooting  them  behind  the  shoulder  with 
a  pistol  or  a  short  gun.  A  bow  and  arrow  are  better  for  those  who  know 
how  to  use  them ;  but  white  men  very  rarely  have  the  skill.  I  have 
seen,  on  different  occasions,  several  hundred  buffalo  killed  with  arrows, 
by  Indians  on  horseback.  This  noble  game,  with  the  tribes  who  live  on 
it,  will  soon  disappear  from  the  earth. 


1680.]  VIOLATED   GRAVES.  191 

sides  deer,  geese,  and  swans.  They  cut  the  meat 
into  thin  flakes,  and  dried  it  in  the  sun,  or  in  the 
smoke  of  their  fires.  The  men  were  in  high  spirits ; 
delighting  in  the  sport,  and  rejoicing  in  the  pros- 
pect of  relieving  Tonty  and  his  hungry  followers 
with  a  bounteous  supply. 

They  embarked  again,  and  soon  approached  the 
great  town  of  the  Illinois.  The  buffalo  were  far 
behind ;  and  once  more  the  canoes  glided  on  then- 
way  through  a  voiceless  solitude.  No  hunters  were 
seen ;  no  saluting  whoop  greeted  their  ears.  They 
passed  the  cliff  afterwards  called  the  Rock  of  St. 
Louis,  where  La  Salle  had  ordered  Tonty  to  build 
his  stronghold ;  but  as  he  scanned  its  lofty  top,  he 
saw  no  palisades,  no  cabins,  no  sign  of  human 
hand,  and  still  its  primeval  crest  of  forests  over- 
hung the  gliding  river.  Now  the  meadow  opened 
before  them  where  the  great  town  had  stood.  They 
gazed,  astonished  and  confounded :  all  was  desola- 
tion. The  town  had  vanished,  and  the  meadow 
was  black  with  fire.  They  plied  their  paddles, 
hastened  to  the  spot,  landed ;  and,  as  they  looked 
around,  their  cheeks  grew  white,  and  the  blood  was 
frozen  in  their  veins. 

Before  them  lay  a  plain  once  swarming  with  wild 
human  life,  and  covered  with  Indian  dwellings  ;  now 
a  waste  of  devastation  and  death,  strewn  with  heaps 
of  ashes,  and  bristling  with  the  charred  poles  and 
stakes  which  had  formed  the  framework  of  the 
lodges.  At  the  points  of  most  of  them  were  stuck 
human  skulls,  half  picked  by  birds  of  prey.1     Near 

1  "  II  ne  rcstoit  que  quelques  bouts  de  perches  brulces  qui  montroient 
quelle  avoit  ete  l'etendue  du  village,  et  sur  la  plupart  desquelles  il  y  avoit 


192  INDIAN   CONQUERORS.  [1680. 

at  hand  was  the  burial  ground  of  the  village.  The 
travellers  sickened  with  horror  as  they  entered  its 
revolting  precincts.  Wolves  in  multitudes  fled  at 
their  approach ;  while  clouds  of  crows  or  buzzards, 
rising  from  the  hideous  repast,  wheeled  above  their 
heads,  or  settled  on  the  naked  branches  of  the 
neighboring  forest.  Every  grave  had  been  rifled, 
and  the  bodies  flung  down  from  the  scaffolds  where, 
after  the  Illinois  custom,  many  of  them  had  been 
placed.  The  field  was  strewn  with  broken  bones 
and  torn  and  mangled  corpses.  A  hyena  warfare 
had  been  waged  against  the  dead.  La  Salle  knew 
the  handiwork  of  the  Iroquois.  The  threatened 
blow  had  fallen,  and  the  wolfish  hordes  of  the  five 
cantons  had  fleshed  their  rabid  fangs  in  a  new 
victim.1 

Not  far  distant,  the  conquerors  had  made  a  rude 
fort  of  trunks,  boughs,  and  roots  of  trees  laid  to- 
gether to  form  a  circular  enclosure  ;  and  this,  too, 
was  garnished  with  skulls,  stuck  on  the  broken 
branches,  and  protruding  sticks.    The  caches,  or  sub- 

des  tetes  de  morts  plante'es  et  mangoes  des  corbeaux."  —  Relation  des  De"- 
couvertes  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  MS. 

1  "  Beaucoup  de  carcasses  a  deini  rongees  par  les  loups,  les  sepulchres 
demolis,  les  os  tires  de  leurs  fosses  et  epars  par  la  campagne ;  .  .  .  enfin 
les  loups  et  les  corbeaux  augmentoient  par  leurs  hurlemens  et  par  leurs 
cris  l'horreur  de  ce  spectacle."  —  Ibid . 

The  above  may  seem  exaggerated,  but  it  accords  perfectly  with  what 
is  well  established  concerning  the  ferocious  character  of  the  Iroquois,  and 
the  nature  of  their  warfare.  Many  other  tribes  have  frequently  made 
war  upon  the  dead.  I  have  myself  known  an  instance  in  which  five 
corpses  of  Sioux  Indians,  placed  in  trees,  after  the  practice  of  the  western 
bands  of  that  people,  were  thrown  down  and  kicked  into  fragments  by  a 
war  party  of  the  Crows,  who  then  held  the  muzzles  of  their  guns  against 
the  skulls  and  blew  them  to  pieces.  This  happened  near  the  head  of  the 
Platte,  in  the  summer  of  1846.  Yet  the  Crows  are  much  less  ferocious 
than  were  the  Iroquois  in  La  Salle's  time. 


1680.]  A  NIGHT   OF  HORROR.  193 

terranean  storehouses  of  the  villagers  had  been 
broken  open,  and  the  contents  scattered.  The 
cornfields  were  laid  waste,  and  much  of  the  corn 
thrown  into  heaps  and  half  burned.  As  La  Salle 
surveyed  this  scene  of  havoc,  one  thought  engrossed 
him :  where  were  Tonty  and  his  men  1  He  searched 
the  Iroquois  fort ;  there  were  abundant  traces  of 
its  savage  occupants,  but  none  whatever  of  the 
presence  of  white  men.  He  examined  the  skulls  ; 
but  the  hair,  portions  of  which  clung  to  nearly  all 
of  them,  was  in  every  case  that  of  an  Indian.  Even- 
ing came  on  before  he  had  finished  the  search. 
The  sun  set,  and  the  wilderness  sank  to  its  savage 
rest.  Night  and  silence  brooded  over  the  waste, 
where,  far  as  the  raven  could  wing  his  flight, 
stretched  the  dark  domain  of  solitude  and  horror. 

Yet  there  was  no  silence  at  the  spot,  where, 
crouched  around  their  camp-fire,  La  Salle  and  his 
companions  kept  their  vigil.  The  howlings  of  the 
wolves  filled  the  frosty  air  with  a  fierce  and  dreary 
dissonance.  More  deadly  foes  were  not  far  off,  for 
before  nightfall  they  had  seen  fresh  Indian  tracks. 
The  cold,  however,  forced  them  to  make  a  fire  ;  and 
while  some  tried  to  rest  around  it,  the  others  stood 
on  the  watch.  La  Salle  could  not  sleep.  Anxiety, 
anguish,  fears  for  his  friend,  doubts  as  to  what 
course  he  should  pursue,  racked  his  firm  mind  with 
a  painful  indecision,  and  lent  redoubled  gloom  to 
the  terrors  that  encompassed  him.1 

During  the  afternoon,  he  had  made  a  discovery 
which  offered,  as  he  thought,  a  possible  clew  to  the 

1  Relation  des  D€couvertes,  MS. 
17 


194  INDIAN   CONQUERORS.  [1680. 

fate  of  Tonty,  and  those  with  him.  In  one  of 
the  Illinois  cornfields,  near  the  river,  were  planted 
six  posts  painted  red,  on  each  of  which  was  drawn 
in  black  a  figure  of  a  man  with  eyes  bandaged. 
La  Salle  supposed  them  to  represent  six  French- 
men, prisoners  in  the  hands  of  the  Iroquois  ;  and 
he  resolved  to  push  forward  at  all  hazards,  in  the 
hope  of  learning  more.  When  daylight  at  length 
returned,  he  told  his  followers  that  it  was  his  pur- 
pose to  descend  the  river,  and  directed  three  of 
them  to  await  his  return  near  the  ruined  village. 
They  were  to  hide  themselves  on  an  island,  con- 
ceal their  fire  at  night,  make  no  smoke  by  day, 
fire  no  guns,  and  keep  a  close  watch.  Should  the 
rest  of  the  party  arrive,  they,  too,  were  to  wait  with 
similar  precautions.  The  baggage  was  placed  in  a 
hollow  of  the  rocks,  at  a  place  difficult  of  access ; 
and,  these  arrangements  made,  La  Salle  set  out  on 
his  perilous  journey  with  the  four  remaining  men, 
Dautray,  Hunaut,  You,  and  the  Indian.  Each  was 
armed  wTith  two  guns,  a  pistol,  and  a  sword ;  and 
a  number  of  hatchets  and  other  goods  were  placed 
in  the  canoe,  as  presents  for  Indians  whom  they 
might  meet. 

Several  leagues  below  the  village  they  found,  on 
their  right  hand  close  to  the  river,  a  sort  of  island 
made  inaccessible  by  the  marshes  and  Mater  which 
surrounded  it.  Here  the  flying  Illinois  had  sought 
refuge  writh  their  women  and  children,  and  the 
place  was  full  of  their  deserted  huts.  On  the  left 
bank,  exactly  opposite,  was  an  abandoned  camp  of 
the  Iroquois.     On  the  level  meadow  stood  a  hun- 


1680.]  A  HIDEOUS   SPECTACLE.  195 

dred  and  thirteen  huts,  and  on  the  forest  trees 
which  covered  the  hills  behind  were  carved  the 
totems,  or  insignia,  of  the  chiefs,  together  with  marks 
to  show  the  number  of  followers  which  each  had 
led  to  the  war.  La  Salle  counted  five  hundred  and 
eighty-two  warriors.  He  found  marks,  too,  for  the 
Illinois  killed  or  captured,  but  none  to  indicate  that 
any  of  the  Frenchmen  had  shared  their  fate. 

As  they  descended  the  river,  they  passed,  on  the 
same  day,  six  abandoned  camps  of  the  Illinois,  and 
opposite  to  each  was  a  camp  of  the  invaders.  The 
former,  it  was  clear,  had  retreated  in  a  body  ;  while 
the  Iroquois  had  followed  their  march,  day  by  day, 
along  the  other  bank.  La  Salle  and  his  men  pushed 
rapidly  onward,  passed  Peoria  Lake,  and  soon 
reached  Fort  Crevecoeur,  which  they  found,  as  they 
expected,  demolished  by  the  deserters.  The  vessel 
on  the  stocks  was.  still  left  entire,  though  the  Iro- 
quois had  found  means  to  draw  out  the  iron  nails 
and  spikes.  On  one  of  the  planks  were  written 
the  words:  "Nous  sommes  tous  sauvages :  ce  19 
—  1680  ;  "  the  work,  no  doubt,  of  the  knaves  who 
had  pillaged  and  destroyed  the  fort. 

La  Salle  and  his  companions  hastened  on,  and 
during  the  following  day  passed  four  opposing 
camps  of  the  savage  armies.  The  silence  of  death 
now  reigned  along  the  deserted  river,  whose  lonely 
borders,  wrapped  deep  in  forests,  seemed  lifeless  as 
the  grave.  As  they  drew  near  the  mouth  of  the 
stream,  they  saw  a  meadow  on  their  right,  and,  on 
its  farthest  verge,  several  human  figures,  erect  yet 
motionless.     They  landed,  and  cautiously  examined 


196  INDIAN   CONQUERORS.  [1680. 

the  place.  The  long  grass  was  trampled  down, 
and  all  aronnd  were  strewn  the  relics  of  the  hideous 
orgies  which  formed  the  ordinary  sequel  of  an  Iro- 
quois victory.  The  figures  they  had  seen  were  the 
half- consumed  bodies  of  women,  still  bound  to 
the  stakes  where  they  had  been  tortured.  Other 
sights  there  were,  too  revolting  for  record.1  All 
the  remains  were  those  of  women  and  children. 
The  men,  it  seemed,  had  fled,  and  left  them  to  their 
fate. 

Here,  again,  La  Salle  sought  long  and  anxiously, 
without  finding  the  smallest  sign  that  could  in- 
dicate the  presence  of  Frenchmen.  Once  more 
descending  the  river,  they  soon  reached  its  mouth. 
Before  them,  a  broad  eddying  current  rolled  swiftly 
on  its  way ;  and  La  Salle  beheld  the  Mississippi, 
the  object  of  his  day-dreams,  the  destined  avenue 
of  his  ambition  and  his  hopes.  It  was  no  time  for 
reflections.  The  moment  was  too  engrossing,  too 
heavily  charged  with  anxieties  and  cares.  From 
a  rock  on  the  shore,  he  saw  a  tree  stretched  for- 
ward above  the  stream  ;  and  stripping  off  its  bark 
to  make  it  more  conspicuous,  he  hung  upon  it  a 
board,  on  which  he  had  drawn  the  figures  of  him- 
self and  his  men,  seated  in  their  canoe,  and  bearing 
a  pipe  of  peace.  To  this  he  tied  a  letter  for  Tonty, 
informing  him  that  he  had  returned  up  the  river  to 
the  ruined  village. 

1  "  On  ne  scauroit  exprimer  la  rage  de  ces  furieux  ni  les  tourmens 
qu'ils  avoient  fait  souffrir  aux  raiserables  Tamaroa  (a  tribe  of  the  Illt7iois). 
II  y  en  avoit  encore  dans  des  chaudieres  qu'ils  avoient  laisse'es  pleines  sur 
les  feux,  qui  depuis  s'e'toieut  eteints,"  etc.,  etc.  —  Relation  des  Decouvertes, 
MS. 


1680.J  THE  COMET.  197 

His  four  men  had  behaved  admirably  throughout, 
and  they  now  offered  to  continue  the  journey,  if  he 
saw  fit,  and  follow  him  to  the  sea ;  but  he  thought 
it  useless  to  go  farther,  and  was  unwilling  to  aban- 
don the  three  men  whom  he  had  ordered  to  await 
his  return.  Accordingly  they  retraced  their  course, 
and,  paddling  at  times  both  day  and  night,  urged 
their  canoe  so  swiftly,  that  they  reached  the  village 
in  the  incredibly  short  space  of  four  days.1 

The  sky  was  clear ;  and,  as  night  came  on,  the 
travellers  saw  a  prodigious  comet  blazing  above 
this  scene  of  desolation.  On  that  night,  it  was 
chilling,  with  a  superstitious  awe,  the  hamlets  of 
New  England  and  the  gilded  chambers  of  Ver- 
sailles ;  but  it  is  characteristic  of  La  Salle,  that, 
beset  as  he  was  with  perils,  and  surrounded  with 
ghastly  images  of  death,  he  coolly  notes  down  the 
phenomenon,  —  not  as  a  portentous  messenger  of 
war  and  woe,  but  rather  as  an  object  of  scientific 
curiosity.9 


1  The  distance  is  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  The  Relation  des 
De'couvertes  says  that  they  left  the  village  on  the  second  of  December,  and 
returned  to  it  on  the  eleventh,  having  left  the  mouth  of  the  river  on  the 
seventh.  Very  probably,  there  is  an  error  of  date.  In  other  particulars, 
this  narrative  is  sustained  by  those  of  Tonty. 

2  This  was  the  "  Great  Comet  of  1680."  Dr.  B.  A.  Gould  writes  me  : 
"  It  appeared  in  December,  1680,  and  was  visible  until  the  latter  part  of 
February,  1681,  being  especially  brilliant  in  January."  It  was  said  to  be 
the  largest  ever  seen.  By  observations  upon  it,  Newton  demonstrated 
the  regular  revolutions  of  comets  around  the  sun.  "  No  comet,"  it  is  said, 
"  has  threatened  the  earth  with  a  nearer  approach  than  that  of  1680."  — 
Winthrop  on  Comets,  Lecture  II.  p.  44.  Increase  Mather,  in  his  Discourse 
concerning  Comets,  printed  at  Boston  in  1683,  says  of  this  one  :  "  Its  appear- 
ance was  very  terrible,  the  Blaze  ascended  above  60  Degrees  almost  to  its 
Zenith."  Mather  thought  it  fraught  with  terrific  portent  to  the  nations 
of  the  earth. 

17* 


198  INDIAN   CONQUERORS.  [1681. 

He  found  his  three  men  safely  ensconced  upon 
their  island,  where  they  were  anxiously  looking  for 
his  return.  After  collecting  a  store  of  half-burnt 
corn  from  the  ravaged  granaries  of  the  Illinois,  the 
whole  party  began  to  asceud  the  river,  and,  on 
the  sixth  of  January,  reached  the  junction  of  the 
Kankakee  with  the  northern  branch.  On  their 
way  downward,  they  had  descended  the  former 
stream.  They  now  chose  the  latter,  and  soon  dis- 
covered, by  the  margin  of  the  water,  a  rude  cabin 
of  bark.  La  Salle  landed,  and  examined  the  spot, 
when  an  object  met  his  eye  which  cheered  him 
with  a  bright  gleam  of  hope.  It  was  but  a  piece 
of  wood,  but  the  wood  had  been  cut  with  a  saw. 
Tonty  and  his  party,  then,  had  passed  this  way, 
escaping  from  the  carnage  behind  them.  Unhap- 
pily, they  had  left  no  token  of  their  passage  at  the 
fork  of  the  two  streams  ;  and  thus  La  Salle,  on  his 
voyage  downward,  had  believed  them  to  be  still  on 
the  river  below. 

With  rekindled  hope,  the  travellers  pursued  their 
journey,  leaving  their  canoes,  and  making  their  way 
overland  towards  the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph.  Snow 
fell  in  profusion,  till  the  earth  was  deeply  buried. 
So  light  and  dry  was  it,  that  to  walk  on  snow- 
shoes  was  impossible ;  and  La  Salle,  after  his 
custom,  took  the  lead,  to  break  the  path  and 
cheer  on  his  followers.  Despite  his  tall  stature, 
he  often  waded  through  drifts  to  the  waist,  while 
the  men  toiled  on  behind  ;  the  snow,  shaken  from 
the  burdened  twigs,  showering  them  as  they  passed. 
After  excessive  fatigue,  they  reached  their  goal, 


1681.]  FORT  MIAMI.  199 

and  found  shelter  and  safety  within  the  walls  of 
Fort  Miami.  Here  was  the  party  left  in  charge 
of  La  Forest ;  but,  to  his  surprise  and  grief,  La  Salle 
heard  no  tidings  of  Tonty.  He  found  some  amends 
for  the  disappointment  in  the  fidelity  and  zeal  of 
La  Forest's  men,  who  had  restored  the  fort,  cleared 
ground  for  planting,  and  even  sawed  the  planks 
and  timber  for  a  new  vessel  on  the  lake. 

And  now,  while  La  Salle  rests  at  Fort  Miami, 
let  us  trace  the  adventures  which  befell  Tonty  and 
his  followers,  after  their  chief's  departure  from 
Fort  Crevecceur. 


CHAPTER   XVn. 

1680. 
TONTY  AND   THE   IROQUOIS. 

The  Deserters.  —  The  Iroquois  War.  —  The  Great  Town  of  the 
Illinois.  —  The  Alarm.  —  Onset  of  the  Iroquois.  —  Peril  of 
Tonty. —  A  Treacherous  Truce.  —  Intrepidity  of  Tonty. —  Mur- 
der of  Ribourde.  —  War  upon  the  Dead. 

.  When  La  Salle  set  out  on  his  rugged  journey  to 
Fort  Frontenac,  he  left,  as  we  have  seen,  fifteen 
men  at  Fort  Crevecceur,  —  smiths,  ship-carpenters, 
housewrights,  and  soldiers,  besides  his  servant 
l'Esperance  and  the  two  friars  Membre  and  Ri- 
bourde. Most  of  the  men  were  ripe  for  mutiny. 
They  had  no  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and  no  love 
for  its.  chief.  They  were  disgusted  at  the  present, 
and  terrified  at  the  future.  La  Salle,  too,  was  for 
the  most  part  a  stern  commander,  impenetrable  and 
cold ;  and  when  he  tried  to  soothe,  conciliate,  and 
encourage,  his  success  rarely  answered  to  the  ex- 
cellence of  his  rhetoric.  He  could  always,  how- 
ever, inspire  respect,  if  not  love ;  but  now  the 
restraint  of  his  presence  was  removed.  He  had 
not  been  long  absent,  when  a  firebrand  was  thrown 
into  the  midst  of  the  discontented  and  restless 
crew. 


1680.]  THE  DESERTERS.  201 

It  may  be  remembered  that  La  Salle  had  met 
two  of  his  men,  La  Chapelle  and  Leblanc,  at  his 
fort  on  the  St.  Joseph,  and  ordered  them  to  rejoin 
Tonty.  Unfortunately,  they  obeyed.  Oil  arriving, 
they  told  their  comrades  that  the  "  Griffin "  was 
lost,  that  Fort  Frontenac  was  seized  by  the  cred- 
itors of  La  Salle,  that  he  was  ruined  past  recovery, 
and  that  they,  the  men,  would  never  receive  their 
pay.  Their  wages  were  in  arrears  for  more  than 
two  years ;  and,  indeed,  it  would  have  been  folly  to 
pay  them  before  their  return  to  the  settlements,  as 
to  do  so  would  have  been  a  temptation  to  desert. 
Now,  however,  the  effect  on  their  minds  was  still 
worse,  believing,  as  many  of  them  did,  that  they 
would  never  be  paid  at  all. 

La  Chapelle  and  his  companion  had  brought  a 
letter  from  La  Salle  to  Tonty,  directing  him  to 
examine  and  fortify  the  cliff  so  often  mentioned, 
which  overhung  the  river  above  the  great  Illinois 
village.  Tonty,  accordingly,  set  out  on  his  errand 
with  some  of  the  men.  In  his  absence,  the  mal- 
contents destroyed  the  fort,  stole  powder,  lead,  furs, 
and  provisions,  and  deserted,  after  writing  on  the 
side  of  the  unfinished  vessel  the  words  seen  by 
La  Salle,  "  Nous  sommes  tous  saucages"  ]     The 

1  For  the  particulars  of  this  desertion,  Membre*,  in  Le  Clerc,  ii.  171, 
Relation  des  D&vuvertes,  MS. ;  Tonty,  Me'moire,  MS. ;  D&laration  faite  par 
devant  le  Sr-  Duchesheau,  Intendant  en  Canada,  par  Moyse  Hillaret,  charpentier 
de  barque  cy -devant  au  service  du  S    de  la  Salle,  17  Aoust,  1680,  MS. 

Moyse  Hillaret,  the  "  Maitre  Moyse  "  of  Hennepin,  was  a  ringleader 
of  the  deserters,  and  seems  to  have  .been  one  of  those  captured  by  La 
Salle  near  Fort  Frontenac.  Twelve  days  after,  Hillaret  was  examined  by 
La  Salle's  enemy,  the  Intendant ;  and  this  paper  is  tbe  formal  statement 
made  by  him.     It  gives  the  names  of  most  of  the  men,  and  furnishes  in- 


USTtAMY 

"TATW  TtACHKRS-  COflEMM 
-JANTA    BARBARA,,  CM^JiafUttA 


202  TONTY  AND   THE   IROQUOIS!  [1680. 

brave  young  Sieur  de  Boisrondet  and  the  servant 
l'Esperance  hastened  to  carry  the  news  to  Tonty, 
who  at  once  despatched  four  of  those  with  him,  by 
two  different  routes,  to  inform  La  Salle  of  the 
disaster.1  Besides  the  two  just  named,  there  now 
remained  with  him  only  three  hired  men  and  the 
Recollet  friars.  With  this  feeble  band,  he  was 
left  among  a  horde  of  treacherous  savages,  who  had 
been  taught  to  regard  him  as  a  secret  enemy.  Re- 
solved, apparently,  to  disarm  their  jealousy  by  a 
show  of  confidence,  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the 
midst  of  them,  making  his  quarters  in  the  great 
village,  whither,  as  spring  opened,  its  inhabitants 
returned,  to  the  number,  according  to  Membre,  of 
seven  or  eight  thousand.  Hither  he  conveyed  the 
forge  and  such  tools  as  he  could  recover,  and  here 
he  hoped  to  maintain  himself  till  La  Salle  should 
reappear.  The  spring  and  the  summer  were  past, 
and  he  looked  anxiously  for  his  coming,  uncon- 
scious that  a  storm  was  gathering  in  the  east,  soon 
to  burst  with  devastation  over  the  fertile  wilderness 
of  the  Illinois. 

I  have  recounted  the  ferocious  triumphs  of  the 
Iroquois  in  another  volume.2     Throughout  a  wide 

cidental  confirmation  of  many  statements  of  Hennepin,  Tonty,  Membre, 
and  the  Relation  des  De'couverles.  Hillaret,  Leblanc,  and  Le  Meilleur,  the 
blacksmith  nicknamed  La  Forge,  went  off  together,  and  the  rest  seem  to 
have  followed  afterwards.  Hillaret  does  not  admit  that  any  goods  were 
wantonly  destroyed. 

There  is  before  me  a  schedule  of  the  debts  of  La  Salle,  made  after  bis 
death.  It  includes  a  claim  of  this  man  for  wages  to  the  amount  of  2,500 
livres. 

1  Two  of  the  messengers,  Laurent  and  Messier,  arrived  safely.  The 
others  seem  to  have  deserted. 

2  "  The  Jesuits  in  America." 


1680.]  THE  IROQUOIS   WAR.  203 

semicircle  around  their  cantons  they  had  made  the 
forest  a  solitude, — destroyed  the  Hurons,  extermi- 
nated the  Neutrals  and  the  Eries,  reduced  the  for- 
midable Andastes  to  a  helpless  insignificance,  swept 
the  borders  of  the  St.  Lawrence  with  fire,  spread 
terror  and  desolation  among  the  Algonquins  of  Can- 
ada ;  and  now,  tired  of  peace,  they  were  seeking, 
to  borrow  their  own  savage  metaphor,  new  nations 
to  devour.  Yet  it  was  not  alone  their  homicidal 
fury  that  now  impelled  them  to  another  war. 
Strange  as  it  may  seem,  this  war  was  in  no  small 
measure  one  of  commercial  advantage.  They  had 
long  traded  with  the  Dutch  and  English  of  New 
York,  who  gave  them,  in  exchange  for  their  furs, 
the  guns,  ammunition,  knives,  hatchets,  kettles, 
beads,  and  brandy  which  had  become  indispensable 
to  them.  Game  was  scarce  in  their  country.  They 
must  seek  their  beaver  and  other  skins  in  the  vacant 
territories  of  the  tribes  they  had  destroyed;  but 
this  did  not  content  them.  The  French  of  Canada 
were  seeking  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  furs  of 
the  north  and  west ;  and,  of  late,  the  enterprises 
of  La  Salle  on  the  tributaries  of  the  Mississippi 
had  especially  roused  the  jealousy  of  the  Iroquois, 
fomented,  moreover,  by  Dutch  and  English  traders.1 
Tbese  crafty  savages  would  fain  reduce  all  these 
regions  to  subjection,  and  draw  from  thence  an  ex- 
haustless  supply  of  furs  to  be  bartered  for  English 
goods  with  the  traders  of  Albany.  They  turned 
their  eyes  first  towards  the  Illinois,  the  most  impor- 

1  Duchesneau,  in  Paris  Docs.,  ix.  163. 


204  TONTY  AND   THE  IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

tant,  as  well  as  one  of  the  most  accessible,  of  the 
western  Algonquin  tribes ;  and  among  La  Salle's 
enemies  were  some  in  whom  jealousy  of  a  hated 
rival  could  so  far  override  all  the  best  interests  of 
the  colony  that  they  did  not  scruple  to  urge  on  the 
Iroquois  to  an  invasion  which  they  hoped  would 
prove  his  ruin.  The  chiefs  convened,  war  was 
decreed,  the  war-dance  was  danced,  the  war-song 
sung,  and  five  hundred  warriors  began  their  march. 
In  their  path  lay  the  town  of  the  Miamis,  neighbors 
and  kindred  of  the  Illinois.  It  was  always  their 
policy  to  divide  and  conquer ;  and  these  forest 
Machiavels  had  intrigued  so  well  among  the  Mi- 
amis,  working  craftily  on  their  jealousy,  that  they 
induced  them  to  join  in  the  invasion,  though  there 
is  every  reason  to  believe  that  they  had  marked 
these  infatuated  allies  as  their  next  victims.1 

Go  to  the  banks  of  the  Illinois  where  it  flows  by 
the  village  of  Utica,  and  stand  on  the  meadow  that 
borders  it  on  the  north.  In  front  glides  the  river, 
a  musket-shot  in  width  ;  and  from  the  farther  bank 
rises,  with  gradual  slope,  a  range  of  wooded  hills 
that  hide  from  sight  the  vast  prairie  behind  them. 
A  mile  or  more  on  your  left  these  gentle  acclivi- 
ties end  abruptly  in  the  lofty  front  of  the  great 
cliff,  called  by  the  French  the  Rock  of  St.  Louis, 
looking  boldly  out  from  the  forests  that  environ  it ; 
and,  three  miles  distant  on  your  right,  you  discern 

1  There  had  long  been  a  rankling  jealousy  between  the  Miamis  and 
the  Illinois.  According  to  Membre.  La  Salle's  enemies  had  intrigued 
successfully  among  the  former,  as  well  as  among  the  Iroquois,  to  induce 
them  to  take  arms  against  the  Illinois. 


1680.]  THE  ILLINOIS   TOWN.  205 

a  gap  in  the  steep  bluffs  that  here  bound  the  valley, 
marking  the  mouth  of  the  River  Vermilion,  called 
iiramoni  by  the  French.1  Now  stand  in  fancy  on 
this  same  spot  in  the  early  autumn  of  the  year  1680. 
You  are  in  the  midst  of  the  great  town  of  the  Illi- 
nois,— hundreds  of  mat-covered  lodges  and  thou- 
sands of  congregated  savages.  Enter  one  of  their 
dwellings :  they  will  not  think  you  an  intruder. 
Some  friendly  squaw  will  lay  a  mat  for  you  by  the 
fire ;  you  may  seat  yourself  upon  it,  smoke  your 
pipe,  and  study  the  lodge  and  its  inmates  by  the 
light  that  streams  through  the  holes  at  the  top. 
Three  or  four  fires  smoke  and  smoulder  on  the 
ground  down  the  middle  of  the  long  arched  struc- 
ture ;  and  as  to  each  fire  there  are  two  families,  the 
place  is  somewhat  crowded  when  all  are  present. 
But  now  there  is  space  and  breathing  room,  for 
many  are  in  the  fields.  A  squaw  sits  weaving  a  mat 
of  rushes ;  a  warrior,  naked,  except  his  moccasons, 
and  tattooed  with  fantastic  devices,  binds  a  stone 
arrow-head  to  its  shaft  with  the  fresh  sinews  of  a 
buffalo.     Some  lie  asleep,  some  sit  staring  in  va- 


1  The  above  is  from  notes  made  on  the  spot.  The  following  is  La 
Salle's  description  of  the  locality  in  the  Relation  des  D&ouvertes,  written  in 
J.G81  :  "  La  rive  gauche  de  la  riviere,  du  cote'  du  sud,  est  occupee  par  un 
long  rocher,  fort  etroit  et  esearpe  presque  partout,  a  la  reserve  d'un  endroit 
de  plus  d'une  lieue  de  longueur,  situe  vis-a-vis  du  village,  ou  le  terrain, 
tout  couvert  de  beaux  chenes,  s'etend  par  une  pente  douce  jusqu'au  bord 
de  la  riviere.  Au  dela  de  cette  hauteur  est  une  vaste  plaine,  qui  s'etend 
bien  loin  du  cote  du  sud,  et  qui  est  traversee  par  la  riviere  Ararnoni,  dont 
les  bords  sont  converts  d'une  lisiere  de  bois  peu  large." 

The  Ararnoni  is  laid  down  on  the  great  manuscript  map  of  Franquelin, 
1684,  and  on  the  map  of  Coronelli,  1688.  It  is,  without  doubt,  the  Big 
Vermilion.  Starved  Rock,  or  the  Rock  of  St.  Louis,  is  the  highest  and 
steepest  escarpment  of  the  long  rocher  above  mentioned. 

18 


206  TONTY  AND   THE   IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

cancy,  some  are  eating,  some  are  squatted  in  lazy 
chat  around  a  fire.  The  smoke  brings  water  to 
your  eyes ;  the  fleas  annoy  you ;  small  unkempt 
children,  naked  as  young  puppies,  crawl  about  your 
knees  and  will  not  be  repelled.  You  have  seen 
enough.  You  rise  and  go  out  again  into  the  sun- 
light. It  is,  if  not  a  peaceful,  at  least  a  languid 
scene.  A  few  voices  break  the  stillness,  mingled 
with  the  joyous  chirping  of  crickets  from  the  grass. 
Young  men  lie  flat  on  their  faces,  basking  in  the 
sun.  A  group  of  their  elders  are  smoking  around 
a  buffalo  skin  on  which  they  have  just  been  playing 
a  game  of  chance  with  cherry-stones.  A  lover  and 
his  mistress,  perhaps,  sit  together  under  a  shed  of 
bark  without  uttering  a  word.  Not  far  off  is  the 
graveyard,  where  lie  the  dead  of  the  village,  some 
buried  in  the  earth,  some  wrapped  in  skins  and  laid 
aloft  on  scaffolds,  above  the  reach  of  wolves.  In 
the  cornfields  around,  you  see  squaws  at  then  labor, 
and  children  driving  off  intruding  birds  ;  and  your 
eye  ranges  over  the  meadows  beyond,  spangled  with 
the  yellow  blossoms  of  the  resin-weed  and  the  Rud- 
beckia,  or  over  the  bordering  hills  still  green  with 
the  foliage  of  summer.1 

1  The  Illinois  were  an  aggregation  of  distinct  though  kindred  tribes, 
the  Kaskaskias,  the  Peorias,  the  Cahokias,  the  Tamaroas,  the  Moingona, 
and  others.  Their  general  character  and  habits  were  those  of  other 
Indian  tribes,  but  they  were  reputed  somewhat  cowardly  and  slothful.  In 
their  manners,  they  were  more  licentious  than  many  of  their  neighbors, 
and  addicted  to  practices  which  are  sometimes  supposed  to  be  the  result 
of  a  perverted  civilization.  Young  men  enacting  the  part  of  women  were 
frequently  to  be  seen  among  them.  These  were  held  in  great  contempt. 
Some  of  the  early  travellers,  both  among  the  Illinois  and  among  other 
tribes,  where  the  same  practice  prevailed,  mistook  them  for  hermaphrodites. 
According  to  Charlevoix  (Journal  Historique,  303),  this  abuse  was  due  in 


1680.]  THE   ILLINOIS   TOWN  •     207 

This,  or  something  like  it,  one  may  safely  affirm, 
was  the  aspect  of  the  Illinois  village  at  noon  of  the 
tenth  of  September.1  In  a  hnt,  apart  from  the  rest, 
you  would  probably  have  found  the  Frenchmen. 
Among  them  was  a  man,  not  strong  in  person,  and 
disabled,  moreover,  by  the  loss  of  a  hand ;  yet,  in 
this  den  of  barbarism,  betraying  the  language  and 
bearing  of  one  formed  in  the  most  polished  civiliza- 
tion of  Europe.  This  was  Henri  de  Tonty.  The 
others  were  young  Boisrondet,  and  the  two  faithful 
men  who  had  stood  by  their  commander.  The 
friars,  Membre  and  Ribourde,  were  not  in  the  vil- 
lage, but  at  a  hut  a  league  distant,  whither  they 
had  gone  to  make  a  "  retreat,"  for  prayer  and  med- 
itation. Their  missionary  labors  had  not  been 
fruitful.  They  had  made  no  converts,  and  were  in 
despair  at  the  intractable  character  of  the  objects 
of  their  zeal.  As  for  the  other  Frenchmen,  time, 
doubtless,  hung  heavy  on  their  hands  ;  for  nothing 
can  surpass  the  vacant  monotony  of  an  Indian  town 
when  there  is  neither  hunting,  nor  war,  nor  feasts, 
nor  dances,  nor  gambling,  to  beguile  the  lagging 
hours. 

Suddenly  the  village  was  wakened  from  its  leth- 
argy as  by  the  crash  of  a  thunderbolt.     A  Shawanoe, 

part  to  a  superstition.  The  Miamis  and  Piankishaws  were  in  close  affini- 
ties of  language  and  habits  with  the  Illinois.  All  these  tribes  belonged  to 
the  great  Algonquin  family.  The  first  impressions  which  the  French 
received  of  them,  as  recorded  in  the  Relation  of  1671,  were  singularly 
favorable  ;  but  a  closer  acquaintance  did  not  confirm  them.  The  Illinois 
traded  with  the  lake  tribes,  to  whom  they  carried  slaves  taken  in  war, 
receiving  in  exchange,  guns,  hatchets,  and  other  French  goods.  —  Mar- 
quette in  Relation,  1670,  91. 

1  This  is  Membrc's  date.  The  narratives  differ  as  to  the  day,  though 
all  agree  as  to  the  month. 


208  TONTY  AND   THE  IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

lately  here  on  a  visit,  had  left  his  Illinois  friends  to 
return  home.  He  now  reappeared,  crossing  the 
river  in  hot  haste  with  the  announcement  that  he 
had  met,  on  his  way,  an  army  of  Iroquois  approach- 
ing to  attack  them.  All  was  panic  and  confusion. 
The  lodges  disgorged  their  frightened  inmates ; 
women  and  children  screamed,  startled  warriors 
snatched  their  weapons.  There  were  less  than  five 
hundred  of  them,  for  the  greater  part  of  the  young 
men  had  gone  to  war.  A  crowd  of  excited  savages 
thronged  about  Tonty  and  his  Frenchmen,  already 
objects  of  their  suspicion,  charging  them,  with 
furious  gesticulation,  with  having  stirred  up  their 
enemies  to  invade  them.  Tonty  defended  himself 
in  broken  Illinois,  but  the  naked  mob  were  but  half 
convinced.  They  seized  the  forge  and  tools  and 
flung  them  into  the  river,  with  all  the  goods  that 
had  been  saved  from  the  deserters  ;  then,  distrusting 
their  power  to  defend  themselves,  they  manned  the 
wooden  canoes  which  lay  in  multitudes  by  the  bank, 
embarked  their  women  and  children,  and  paddled 
down  the  stream  to  that  island  of  dry  land  in  the 
midst  of  marshes  which  La  Salle  afterwards  found 
filled  with  their  deserted  huts.  Sixty  warriors  re- 
mained here  to  guard  them,  and  the  rest  returned 
to  the  village.  All  night  long  fires  blazed  along 
the  shore.  The  excited  warriors  greased  their 
bodies,  painted  their  faces,  befeathered  their  heads, 
sang  their  war-songs,  danced,  stamped,  yelled,  and 
brandished  their  hatchets,  to  work  up  their  courage 
to  face  the  crisis.  The  morning  came,  and  with  it 
came  the  Iroquois. 


1680.J  THE   PERIL  OE   TONTY.  209 

Young  warriors  had  gone  out  as  scouts,  and  now 
they  returned.  They  had  seen  the  enemy  in  the 
line  of  forest  that  bordered  the  River  Aramoni,  or 
Vermilion,  and  had  stealthily  reconnoitred  them. 
They  were  very  numerous,1  and  armed  for  the  most 
part  with  guns,  pistols,  and  swords.  Some  had 
bucklers  of  wood  or  raw  hide,  and  some  wore  those 
corselets  of  tough  twigs  interwoven  with  cordage 
which  their  fathers  had  used  when  firearms  were 
unknown.  The  scouts  added  more,  for  they  de- 
clared that  they  had  seen  a  Jesuit  among  the  Iro- 
quois ;  nay,  that  La  Salle  himself  was  there,  whence 
it  must  follow  that  Tonty  and  his  men  were  enemies 
and  traitors.  The  supposed  Jesuit  was  but  an  Iro- 
quois chief  arrayed  in  a  black  hat,  doublet,  and 
stockings;  while  another,  equipped  after  a  somewhat 
similar  fashion,  passed  in  the  distance  for  La  Salle. 
But  the  Illinois  were  furious.  Tonty 's  life  hung  by 
a  hair.  A  crowd  of  savages  surrounded  him,  mad 
with  rage  and  terror.  He  had  come  lately  from 
Europe,  and  knew  little  of  Indians  ;  but,  as  the  friar 
Membre  says  of  him,  "  he  was  full  of  intelligence 
and  courage,"  and  when  they  heard  him  declare 
that  he  and  his  Frenchmen  would  go  with  them  to 
fight  the  Iroquois,  their  threats  grew  less  clamorous 
and  their  eyes  glittered  with  a  less  deadly  lustre. 

Whooping  and  screeching,  they  ran  to  their 
canoes,  crossed  the  river,  climbed  the  woody  hill, 


1  The  Relation  des  D&ouvertes  says,  five  hundred  Iroquois  and  one  hun- 
dred Shawauoes.  Membre  says  that  the  allies  were  Miamis.  He  is  no 
doubt  right,  as  the  Miamis  had  promised  their  aid,  and  the  Shawanoes 
were  at  peace  with  the  Illinois.     Tonty  is  silent  on  the  point. 

18* 


210  TONTY  AND   THE  IEOQUOIS.  [1680. 

and  swarmed  down  upon  the  plain  beyond.  About 
a  hundred  of  them  had  guns  ;  the  rest  were  armed 
with  bows  and  arrows.  They  were  now  face  to 
face  with  the  enemy,  who  had  emerged  from  the 
woods  of  the  Vermilion,  and  was  advancing  on 
the  open  prairie.  With  unwonted  spirit,  for  their 
repute  as  warriors  was  by  no  means  high,  the  Illi- 
nois began,  after  their  fashion,  to  charge  ;  that  is, 
they  leaped,  yelled,  and  shot  off  bullets  and  arrows, 
advancing  as  they  did  so  ;  while  the  Iroquois  replied 
with  gymnastics  no  less  agile,  and  howlings  no  less 
terrific,  mingled  with  the  rapid  clatter  of  their  guns. 
Tonty  saw  that  it  would  go  hard  with  his  allies. 
It  was  of  the  last  moment  to  stop  the  fight  if 
possible.  The  Iroquois  were,  or  professed  to  be, 
at  peace  with  the  French ;  and  taking  counsel  of 
his  courage,  he  resolved  on  an  attempt  to  mediate, 
which  may  well  be  called  a  desperate  one.  He 
laid  aside  his  gun,  took  in  his  hand  a  wampum 
belt  as  a  flag  of  truce,  and  walked  forward  to  meet 
the  savage  multitude,  attended  by  Boisrondet,  an- 
other Frenchman,  and  a  young  Illinois  who  had 
the  hardihood  to  accompany  him.  The  guns  of 
the  Iroquois  still  flashed  thick  and  fast.  Some 
of  them  were  aimed  at  him,  on  which  he  sent  back 
the  two  Frenchmen  and  the  Illinois,  and  advanced 
alone,  holding  out  the  wampum  belt.1     A  moment 

1  Membre  says  that  he  went  with  Tonty,  "  J'e'tois  aussi  a  cotd  du 
Sieur  de  Tonty."  This  is  an  invention  of  the  friar's  vanity.  "  Les  deux 
peres  Recollets  etoient  alors  dans  line  cabane  a  une  lieue  du  village,  oil 
ils  s'c'toient  retires  pour  faire  une  espece  de  retraite,  et  ils  ne  furent 
avertis  de  l'arrivee  des  Iroquois  que  dans  le  temps  du  combat."  — 
Relation  des  De'couvertes,  MS.  "Je  rencontrai  en  chemin  les  peres  Ga- 
briel et  Zenobe  Membre',  qui  cherchoient  de  mes  nouvelles." — Tonty, 


1680.]  TONTY'S  MEDIATION.  211 

more,  and  he  was  among  the  infuriated  warriors. 
It  was  a  frightful  spectacle :  the  contorted  forms, 
bounding,  crouching',  twisting,  to  deal  or  dodge  the 
shot ;  the  small  keen  eyes  that  shone  like  an  angry 
snake's  ;  the  parted  lips  pealing  their  fiendish  yells  ; 
the  painted  features  writhing  with  fear  and  fury, 
and  every  passion  of  an  Indian  fight ;  man,  wolf,  and 
devil,  all  in  one.1  With  his  swarthy  complexion, 
and  his  half-savage  dress,  they  thought  he  was  an 
Indian,  and  thronged  about  him,  glaring  murder. 
A  young  warrior  stabbed  at  his  heart  with  a  knife, 
but  the  point  glanced  aside  against  a  rib,  inflicting 
only  a  deep  gash.  A  chief  called  out  that,  as  his 
ears  were  not  pierced,  he  must  be  a  Frenchman. 
On  this,  some  of  them  tried  to  stop  the  bleeding, 
and  led  him  to  the  rear,  where  an  angry  parley 
ensued,  while  the  yells  and  firing  still  resounded 
in  the  front.  Tonty,  breathless,  and  bleeding  at  the 
mouth  with  the  force  of  the  blow  he  had  received, 
found  words  to  declare  that  the  Illinois  were  under 
the  protection  of  the  king,  and  the  Governor  of 

M&noire,  MS.  This  was  on  his  return  from  the  Iroquois.  The  Relation 
confirms  the  statement,  as  far  as  concerns  Membre :  "  II  rencontra  le  Pere 
Zenobe  (Membre'),  qui  venoit  pour  le  secourir,  aiant  e'te'  averti  du  com- 
bat et  de  sa  blessure." 

The  perverted  Dernieres  De'couvertes,  published  without  authority, 
under  Tonty's  name,  says  that  he  was  attended  by  a  slave  whom  the 
Illinois  sent  with  him  as  interpreter.  Though  this  is  not  mentioned  in 
the  three  authentic  narratives,  it  is  more  than  probable,  as  Tonty  could 
not  have  known  Iroquois  enough  to  make  himself  understood. 

1  Being  once  in  an  encampment  of  Sioux,  when  a  quarrel  broke  out, 
and  the  adverse  factions  raised  the  war-whoop,  and  began  to  fire  at  each 
other,  I  had  a  good,  though  for  the  moment,  a  rather  dangerous  oppor- 
tunity of  seeing  the  demeanor  of  Indians  at  the  beginning  of  a  fight. 
The  fray  was  quelled  before  much  mischief  was  done,  by  the  vigorous 
interveution  of  the  elder  warriors,  who  ran  between  the  combatants. 


212  TONTY  AND  THE   IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

Canada,  and  to  demand  that  they  should  be  left  in 
peace.1 

A  young  Iroquois  snatched  Tonty's  hat,  placed  it 
on  the  end  of  his  gun,  and  displayed  it  to  the  Illi- 
nois, who,  thereupon,  thinking  he  was  killed,  re- 
newed the  fight ;  and  the  firing  in  front  breezed 
up  more  angrily  than  before.  A  warrior  ran  in, 
crying  out  that  the  Iroquois  were  giving  ground, 
and  that  there  were  Frenchmen  among  the  Illinois 
who  fired  at  them.  On  this,  the  clamor  around 
Tonty  was  redoubled.  Some  wished  to  kill  him  at 
once ;  others  resisted.  Several  times,  he  felt  a 
hand  at  the  back  of  his  head,  lifting  up  his  hair, 
and,  turning,  saw  a  savage  with  a  knife,  standing  as 
if  ready  to  scalp  him.2  A  Seneca  chief  demanded 
that  he  should  be  burned.  An  Onondaga  chief, 
a  friend  of  La  Salle,  was  for  setting  him  free.  The 
dispute  grew  fierce  and  hot.  Tonty  told  them  that 
the  Illinois  were  twelve  hundred  strong,  and  that 
sixty  Frenchmen  were  at  the  village,  ready  to  back 
them.  This  invention,  though  not  fully  believed, 
had  no  little  effect.  The  friendly  Onondaga  carried 
his  point ;  and  the  Iroquois,  having  failed  to  sur- 
prise their  enemies  as  they  had  hoped,  now  saw  an 
opportunity  to  delude  them  by  a  truce.     They  sent 

1  "  Je  leur  fis  connoistre  que  les  Islinois  etoierit  sous  la  protection  du 
roy  de  France  etdu  gouverneurdu  pays,  que  j'estois  surpris  qu'ils  vou- 
lussent  rompre  avec  les  Francois  et  qu'ils  voulussent  attendre  (sic)  a  une 
paix." —  Tonty,  Mfmoire,  MS. 

2  "  II  en  avoit  un  derriere  moi  qui  tenoit  un  couteau  dans  sa  main,  et 
qui  de  temps  en  temps  me  levoit  les  cheveux."  —  Tonty,  M€moire,  MS. 
The  Dernieres  D&ouvertes  adds,  "  Je  me  retournai  vers  lui  et  je  vis  bien 
k  sa  contenance  et  a  sa  mine  que  son  dessein  e'toit  de  m'enlever  la  che- 
velure  .  .  .  je  le  priai  de  vouloir  du  moins  se  donner  un  peu  de  patience, 
et  d'attendre  que  ses  Maitres  eussent  decide  de  mon  sort." 


1680.]  KETKEAT  OF  TPE  ILLINOIS.  213 

back  Tonty  with  a  belt  if  peace ;  he  held  it  aloft 
in  sight  of  the  Illinois ;  chiefs  and  old  warriors  ran 
to  stop  the  fight ;  the  yells  and  the  firing  ceased, 
and  Tonty,  like  one  waked  from  a  hideous  night- 
mare, dizzy,  almost  fainting  with  loss  of  blood, 
staggered  across  the  intervening  prairie  to  rejoin 
his  friends.  He  was  met  by  the  two  friars,  Bibourde 
and  Membre,  who,  in  their  secluded  hut  a  league 
from  the  village,  had  but  lately  heard  of  what  was 
passing,  and  who  now,  with  benedictions  and  thanks- 
giving, ran  to  embrace  him  as  a  man  escaped  from 
the  jaws  of  death. 

The  Illinois  now  withdrew,  re-embarking  in  their 
canoes,  and  crossing  again  to  their  lodges ;  but 
scarcely  had  they  reached  them,  when  their  ene- 
mies appeared  at  the  edge  of  the  forest  on  the 
opposite  bank.  Many  found  means  to  cross,  and, 
under  the  pretext  of  seeking  for  provisions,  began 
to  hover  in  bands  about  the  skirts  of  the  town, 
constantly  increasing  in  numbers.  Had  the  Illinois 
dared  to  remain,  a  massacre  would  doubtless  have 
ensued ;  but  they  knew  their  foe  too  well,  set  fire 
to  their  lodges,  embarked  in  haste,  and  paddled 
down  the  stream  to  rejoin  their  women  and  chil- 
dren at  the  sanctuary  among  the  morasses.  The 
whole  body  of  the  Iroquois  now  crossed  the  river, 
took  possession  of  the  abandoned  town,  building 
for  themselves  a  rude  redoubt,  or  fort,  of  the  trunks 
of  trees  and  of  the  posts  and  poles,  forming  the 
framework  of  the  lodges  which  escaped  the  fire. 
Here  they  ensconced  themselves,  and  finished  the 
work  of  havoc  at  their  leisure. 


214  TONTY  AND   THE   IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

Tonty  and  his  companions  still  occupied  their 
hut ;  but  the  Iroquois,  becoming  suspicious  of  them, 
forced  them  to  remove  to  the  fort,  crowded  as  it  was 
with  the  savage  crew.     On  the  second  day,  there 
was  an  alarm.     The  Illinois  appeared  in  numbers 
on  the  low  hills,  half  a  mile  behind  the  town ;   and 
the  Iroquois,  who  had  felt  then*  courage,  and  who 
had   been  told  by  Tonty  that  they  were  twice  as 
numerous  as  themselves,  showed  symptoms  of  no 
little  uneasiness.     They  proposed   that  he   should 
act  as  mediator,  to  which  he  gladly  assented,  and 
crossed   the   meadow   towards   the  Illinois,  accom- 
panied by  Membre,  and  by  an  Iroquois  who  was 
sent  as  a  hostage.     The  Illinois  hailed  the  over- 
tures with  delight,  gave  the  ambassadors  some  re- 
freshment, which  they  sorely  needed,  and  sent  back 
with  them  a  young  man  of  their  nation  as  a  hostage 
on  their  part.     This  indiscreet  youth  nearly  proved 
the  ruin  of  the  negotiation ;  for  he  was  no  sooner 
among  the  Iroquois  than  he  showed  such  an  eager- 
ness to  close  the  treaty,  made  such  promises,  pro- 
fessed such  gratitude,  and  betrayed  so  rashly  the 
numerical  weakness  of  the  Illinois,  that  he  revived 
all   the   insolence   of  the  invaders.      They  turned 
furiously  upon  Tonty  and  charged  him  with  having 
robbed  them  of  the  glory  and  the  spoils  of  victory. 
"  Where  are  all  your  Illinois  warriors,  and  where 
are  the  sixty  Frenchmen  that  you  said  were  among 
them  %  "     It  needed  all  Tonty's  tact  and  coolness  to 
extricate  himself  from  this  new  danger. 

The  treaty  was  at  length  concluded  ;  but  scarcely 
was  it  made,  when  the  Iroquois  prepared  to  break 


1680.]  COUNCIL.  215 

it,  and  set  about  constructing  canoes  of  elm-bark 
in  which  to  attack  the  Illinois  women  and  chil- 
dren in  their  island  sanctuary.  Tonty  warned  his 
allies  that  the  pretended  peace  was  but  a  snare  for 
their  destruction.  The  Iroquois,  on  their  part, 
grew  hourly  more  jealous  of  him,  and  would  cer- 
tainly have  killed  him,  had  it  not  been  their  policy 
to  keep  the  peace  with  Frontenac  and  the  French. 

Several  days  after,  they  summoned  him  and 
Membre  to  a  council.  Six  packs  of  beaver  skin 
were  brought  in,  and  the  savage  orator  presented 
them  to  Tonty  in  turn,  explaining  their  meaning 
as  he  did  so.  The  first  two  were  to  declare  that  the 
children  of  Count  Frontenac,  that  is,  the  Illinois, 
should  not  be  eaten  ;  the  next  was  a  plaster  to  heal 
Tonty's  wound ;  the  next  was  oil  wherewith  to 
anoint  him  and  Membre,  that  they  might  not  be 
fatigued  in  travelling  ;  the  next  proclaimed  that  the 
sun  was  bright;  and  the  sixth  and  last  required 
them  to  decamp  and  go  home.1  Tonty  thanked 
them  for  their  gifts,  but  demanded  when  they  them- 
selves meant  to  go  and  leave  the  Illinois  in  peace. 
At  this  the  conclave  grew  angry,  and,  despite  their 
late  pledge,  some  of  them  said  that  before  they 
went,  they  would  eat  Illinois  flesh.  Tonty  instantly 
kicked  away  the  packs  of  beaver  skin,  the  Indian 


1  An  Indian  speech,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  without  validity,  if  not 
confirmed  by  presents,  each  of  which  has  its  special  interpretation.  The 
meaning  of  the  fifth  pack  of  beaver,  informing  Tonty  that  the  sun  was 
bright,  —  "  que  le  soleil  etoit  beau,"  that  is,  that  the  weather  was  favorable 
for  travelling,  —  is  curiously  misconceived  by  the  editor  of  the  Derniires 
D&ouvertes,  who  improves  upon  his  original  by  substituting  the  words 
"  par  le  cinquieme  paquet  Us  nous  exhortoient  a  adorer  le  Soleil." 


216  TONTY  AND   THE  IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

symbol  of  the  scornful  rejection  of  a  proposal ; 
telling  them  that  since  they  meant  to  eat  the  Gover- 
nor's children,  he  would  have  none  of  their  presents. 
The  chiefs,  in  a  rage,  rose  and  drove  him  from  the 
lodge.  The  French  withdrew  to  their  hut,  where 
they  stood  all  night  on  the  watch,  expecting  an  at- 
tack, and  resolved  to  sell  their  lives  dearly.  At 
daybreak,  the  chiefs  ordered  them  to  begone. 

Tonty,  with  an  admirable  fidelity  and  courage, 
had  done  all  in  the  power  of  man  to  protect  the 
allies  of  Canada  against  their  ferocious  assailants  ; 
and  he  thought  it  unwise  to  persist  farther  in  a 
course  which  could  lead  to  no  good,  and  which 
would  probably  end  in  the  destruction  of  the  whole 
party.  He  embarked  in  a  leaky  canoe  with  Mem- 
bre,  Ribourde,  Boisrondet,  and  the  remaining  two 
men,  and  began  to  ascend  the  river.  After  paddling 
about  five  leagues,  they  landed  to  dry  their  baggage 
and  repair  their  crazy  vessel,  when  Father  Ribourde, 
breviary  in  hand,  strolled  across  the  sunny  meadows 
for  an  hour  of  meditation  among  the  neighboring 
groves.  Evening  approached,  and  he  did  not  return. 
Tonty  with  one  of  the  men  went  to  look  for  him, 
and,  following  his  tracks,  presently  discovered  those 
of  a  band  of  Indians,  who  had  apparently  seized  or 
murdered  him.  Still,  they  did  not  despair.  They 
fixed  their  guns  to  guide  him,  should  he  still  be 
alive  ;  built  a  huge  fire  by  the  bank,  and,  then  cross- 
ing the  river,  lay  watching  it  from  the  other  side. 
At  midnight,  they  saw  the  figure  of  a  man  hovering 
around  the  blaze  ;  then  many  more  appeared,  but 
Ribourde  was  not  among  them.     In  truth,  a  band 


1680.]  WAR   UPON  THE  DEAD.  217 

of  Kickapoos,  enemies  of  the  Iroquois,  about  whose 
camp  they  had  been  prowling  in  quest  of  scalps, 
had  met  and  wantonly  murdered  the  inoffensive  old 
man.  They  carried  his  scalp  to  then  village,  and 
danced  around  it  in  triumph,  pretending  to  have 
taken  it  from  an  enemy.  Thus,  in  his  sixty-fifth 
year,  the  only  heir  of  a  wealthy  Burgundian  house 
perished  under  the  war-clubs  of  the  savages,  for 
whose  salvation  he  had  renounced  station,  ease,  and 
affluence.1 

Meanwhile,  a  hideous  scene  was  enacted  at  the 
ruined  village  of  the  Illinois.  Their  savage  foes, 
balked  of  a  living  prey,  wreaked  their  fury  on  the 
dead.  They  dug  up  the  graves  ;  they  threw  down 
the  scaffolds.  Some  of  the  bodies  they  burned ; 
some  they  threw  to  the  dogs  ;  some,  it  is  affirmed, 
they  ate.2  Placing  the  skulls  on  stakes  as  trophies, 
they  turned  to  pursue  the  Illinois,  who,  when  the 
French  withdrew,  had  abandoned  their  asylum  and 
retreated  down  the  river.  The  Iroquois,  still,  it 
seems,  in  awe  of  them,  followed  them  along  the 
opposite  bank-,  each  night  encamping  face  to  face 
with  them  ;  and  thus  the  adverse  bands  moved  slowly 
southward,  till  they  were  near  the  mouth  of  the 

1  Tonty,  Me'moire,  MS.  Membre  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  191.  Hennepin, 
who  hated  Tonty,  unjustly  charges  him  with  having  abandoned  the  search 
too  soon,  admitting,  however,  that  it  would  have  been  useless  to  continue 
it.     This  part  of  his  narrative  is  a  perversion  of  Membrd's  account. 

2  "  Cependant  les  Iroquois,  aussitot  apres  le  de'part  du  Sr-  de  Tonty, 
exercerent  leur  rage  sur  les  corps  morts  des  Ilinois,  qu'ils  deterrerent  ou 
abbatterent  de  dessus  les  echafauds  oil  les  Ilinois  les  laissent  longtemps 
exposes  avant  que  de  les  mettre  en  terre.  lis  en  brulerent  la  plus  grande 
partie,  ils  en  mangerent  meme  quelques  uns,  et  jetterent  le  reste  aux 
chiens.  Ils  planteYent  les  tetes  de  ces  cadavres  a  demi  decharnds  sur  des 
pieux,"  etc.  — Relation  des  De'couvertes,  MS. 

19 


218  TONTY   AND   THE   IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

river.  Hitherto,  the  compact  array  of  the  Illinois 
had  held  their  enemies  in  check  ;  but  now,  suffering 
from  hunger,  and  lulled  into  security  by  the  assur- 
ances of  the  Iroquois  that  their  object  was  not  to 
destroy  them,  but  only  to  drive  them  from  the 
country,  they  rashly  separated  into  then  several 
tribes.  Some  descended  the  Mississippi ;  some, 
more  prudent,  crossed  to  the  western  side.  One  of 
their  principal  tribes,  the  Tamaroas,  more  credulous 
than  the  rest,  had  the  fatuity  to  remain  near  the 
mouth  of  the  Illinois,  where  they  were  speedily  as- 
sailed by  all  the  force  of  the  Iroquois.  The  men 
fled,  and  very  few  of  them  were  killed ;  but  the 
women  and  children  were  captured  to  the  number, 
it  is  said,  of  seven  hundred.1  Then  followed  that 
scene  of  torture,  of  which,  some  two  weeks  later, 
La  Salle  saw  the  revolting  traces.2  Sated,  at  length, 
with  horrors,  the  conquerors  withdrew,  leading  with 
them  a  host  of  captives,  and  exulting  in  their  tri- 
umphs over  women,  children,  and  the  dead. 

After  the  death  of  Father  Ribourde,  Tonty  and 
his  companions  remained  searching  for  him  till 
noon  of  the  next  day,  and  then,  in  despair  of  again 
seeing  him,  resumed  their  journey.  They  ascended 
the  river,  leaving  no  token  of  their  passage  at  the 
junction  of  its  northern    and   southern   branches. 


1  Relation  des  D(fcouvertes,  MS.  Frontenac  to  the  King,  N.Y.  Col. 
Docs.,  ix.  147.  A  memoir  of  Duchesneau  makes  the  number  twelve  hun- 
dred. 

2  "  lis  [les  Illinois]  trouverent  dans  leur  campement  des  carcasses  de 
leurs  enfans  que  ces  anthropophages  avoient  mangez,  ne  voulant  meme 
d'autre  nourriture  que  la  chair  de  ces  infortunez."  —  La  Potherie,  ii.  145, 
146.     Compare  note,  ante,  p.  196. 


1680.]  ESCAPE   OF  TONTY.  219 

For  food,  they  gathered  acorns  and  dug  roots  in  the 
meadows.  Their  canoe  proved  utterly  worthless ; 
and,  feeble  as  they  were,  they  set  out  on  foot  for 
Lake  Michigan.  Boisrondet  wandered  off,  and  was 
lost.  He  had  dropped  the  flint  of  his  gun,  and  he 
had  no  bullets ;  but  he  cut  a  pewter  porringer  into 
slugs  with  which  he  shot  wild  turkeys,  by  discharging 
his  piece  with  a  firebrand ;  and  after  several  days 
he  had  the  good  fortune  to  rejoin  the  party.  Their 
object  was  to  reach  the  Pottawattamies  of  Green 
Bay.  Had  they  aimed  at  Michillimackinac,  they 
would  have  found  an  asylum  with  La  Forest  at  the 
fort  on  the  St.  Joseph  ;  but  unhappily  they  passed 
westward  of  that  post,  and,  by  way  of  Chicago,  fol- 
lowed the  borders  of  Lake  Michigan  northward. 
The  cold  was  intense,  and  they  had  much  ado  to 
grub  up  wild  onions  from  the  frozen  ground  to  save 
themselves  from  starving.  Tonty  fell  ill  of  a  fever 
and  a  swelling  of  the  limbs,  which  disabled  him 
from  travelling,  and  hence  ensued  a  long  delay.  At 
length  they  neared  Green  Bay,  where  they  would 
have  starved  had  they  not  gleaned  a  few  ears  of 
corn  and  frozen  squashes  in  the  fields  of  an  empty 
Indian  town.  It  was  the  end  of  November  before 
they  found  the  Pottawattamies,  and  were  warmly 
greeted  by  their  chief,  who  had  befriended  La  Salle 
the  year  before,  and  who,  in  his  enthusiasm  fox  the 
French,  was  wont  to  say  that  he  knew  but  three 
great  captains  in  the  world,  Frontenac,  La  Salle, 
and  himself.1 

1  Membra-,  in  Le   Clercq,  ii.  199.    Of  the  three,  or  rather  four  nar- 
ratives, on  which  this  chapter  mainly  rests,  the  best  is  that  contained  in 


220  TONTY  AND  THE  IROQUOIS.  [1680. 

While  Tonty  rests  at  Green  Bay,  and  La  Salle  at 
the  fort  on  the  St.  Joseph,  we  will  leave  them  for  a 
time  to  trace  the  strange  adventures  of  the  errant 
friar,  Father  Louis  Hennepin. 

the  manuscript  of  1681,  entitled  the  Relation  des  D€couvertes.  This  portion 
of  it,  which  bears  every  evidence  of  accuracy,  was  certainly  supplied  by 
Tonty  himself  or  one  of  his  companions.  The  Me'moire  of  Tonty  is  wholly 
distinct.  It  is  a  modest  and  simple  statement,  of  which  the  chief-  fault  is 
its  brevity.  He  undoubtedly  wrote  another  and  more  detailed  narrative, 
which  has  been  used  by  the  editor  of  the  Dernieres  De'couvertes,  printed 
with  Tonty's  name.  The  editor  seems  to  have  taken  less  liberties  with 
his  original  in  this  part  of  the  book  than  in  many  others.  The  narrative 
of  Membre  sustains  that  of  Tonty,  except  in  one  or  two  unimportant 
points,  where  the  writer's  vanity  seems  to  have  gained  the  better  of  his 
veracity. 


THE  ILLINOIS   TOWN.  221 


THE   ILLINOIS    TOWN. 

The  Site  of  the  Great  Illinois  Town.  —  This  has  not  till  now 
been  determined,  though  there  have  been  various  conjectures  concerning 
it.  From  a  study  of  the  contemporary  documents  and  maps,  I  became 
satisfied,  first,  that  the  branch  of  the  River  Illinois,  called  the  "  Big  Ver- 
milion," was  the  Aramoni  of  the  French  explorers  ;  and,  secondly,  that  the 
cliff  called  "  Starved  Rock"  was  that  known  to  the  French  as  Le  Rocher, 
or  the  Rock  of  St.  Louis.  If  I  was  right  in  this  conclusion,  then  the 
position  of  the  Great  Village  was  established  ;  for  there  is  abundant  proof 
that  it  was  on  the  north  side  of  the  river,  above  the  Aramoni,  and  below 
Le  Rocher.  I  accordingly  went  to  the  village  of  Utica,  which,  as  1 
judged  by  the  map,  was  very  near  the  point  in  question,  and  mounted  to 
the  top  of  one  of  the  hills  immediately  behind  it,  whence  I  could  see  the 
valley  of  the  Illinois  for  miles,  bounded  on  the  farther  side  by  a  range  of 
hills,  in  some  parts  rocky  and  precipitous,  and  in  others  covered  with 
forests.  Far  on  the  right,  was  a  gap  in  these  hills,  through  which  the  Big 
Vermilion  flowed  to  join  the  Illinois  ;  and  somewhat  towards  the  left,  at 
the  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half,  was  a  huge  cliff,  rising  perpendicularly 
from  the  opposite  margin  of  the  river.  This  I  assumed  to  be  Le  Rocher 
of  the  French,  though  from  where  I  stood  I  was  unable  to  discern  the  dis- 
tinctive features  which  I  was  prepared  to  find  in  it.  In  every  other  re- 
spect, the  scene  before  me  was  precisely  what  I  had  expected  to  see. 
There  was  a  meadow  on  the  hither  side  of  the  river,  on  which  stood  a 
farm-house  ;  and  this,  as  it  seemed  to  me,  by  its  relations  with  surrounding 
objects,  might  be  supposed  to  stand  in  the  midst  of  the  space  once  occu- 
pied by  the  Illinois  town. 

On  the  way  down  from  the  hill,  I  met  Mr.  James  Clark,  the  principal 
inhabitant  of  Utica,  and  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  this  region.  I 
accosted  him,  told  him  my  objects,  and  requested  a  half  hour's  conversa- 
tion with  him,  at  his  leisure.  He  seemed  interested  in  the  inquiry,  and 
said  he  would  visit  me  early  in  the  evening  at  the  inn,  where,  accordingly, 
he  soon  appeared.  The  conversation  took  place  in  the  porch,  where  a 
number  of  farmers  and  others  were  gathered.  I  asked  Mr.  Clark  if  any 
Indian  remains  were  found  in  the  neighborhood.  "  Yes,"  he  replied, 
"  plenty  of  them."  I  then  inquired  if  there  was  any  one  spot  where  they 
were  more  numerous  than  elsewhere.  "  Yes,"  he  answered  again,  point- 
ing towards  the  farm-house  on  the  meadow  :  "  on  my  farm  down  yonder 
by  the  river,  my  tenant  ploughs  up  teeth  and  bones  by  the  peck  every 
spring,  besides  arrow-heads,  beads,  stone  hatchets,  and  other  things  of 
that  sort."  I  replied  that  this  was  precisely  what  I  had  expected,  as  I  had 
been  led  to  believe  that  the  principal  town  of  the  Illinois  Indians  once 
covered  that  very  spot.     "  If,"  I  added,  "  I  am  right  in  this  belief,  the 

19* 


222  THE  ILLINOIS   TOWN. 

great  rock  beyond  the  river  is  the  one  which  the  first  explorers  occupied 
as  a  fort,  and  I  can  describe  it  to  you  from  their  accounts  of  it,  though  I 
have  never  seen  it  except  from  the  top  of  the  lull  where  the  trees  on  and 
around  it  prevented  me  from  seeing  any  part  but  the  front."  The  men 
present  now  gathered  around  to  listen.  "  The  rock,"  I  continued,  "  is 
nearly  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  high,  and  rises  directly  from  the  water. 
The  front  and  two  sides  are  perpendicular  and  inaccessible,  but  there  is 
one  place  where  it  is  possible  for  a  man  to  climb  up,  though  with  diffi- 
culty. The  top  is  large  enough  and  level  enough  for  houses  and  fortifica- 
tions." Here  several  of  the  men  exclaimed,  "  That's  just  it."  "  You've 
hit  it  exactly."  I  then  asked  if  there  was  any  other  rock  on  that  side 
of  the  river  which  could  answer  to  the  description.  They  all  agreed  that 
there  was  no  such  rock  on  either  side,  along  the  whole  length  of  the  river. 
I  then  said,  "  If  the  Indian  town  was  in  the  place  where  I  suppose  it  to 
have  been,  I  can  tell  you  the  nature  of  the  country  which  lies  behind  the 
hills  on  the  farther  side  of  the  river,  though  I  know  nothing  about  it  ex- 
cept what  I  have  learned  from  writings  nearly  two  centuries  old.  From 
the  top  of  the  hills  you  look  out  upon  a  great  prairie  reaching  as  far  as 
you  can  see,  except  that  it  is  crossed  by  a  belt  of  woods  following  the 
course  of  a  stream  which  enters  the  main  river  a  few  miles  below."  (See 
ante,  p.  205,  note.)  "  You  are  exactly  right  again,"  replied  Mr.  Clark, 
"  we  call  that  belt  of  timber  the  '  Vermilion  Woods,'  and  the  stream  is 
the  Big  Vermilion."  "Then,"  I  said,  " the  Big  Vermilion  is  the  river 
which  the  French  called  the  Aramoni :  'Starved  Rock'  is  the  same  on 
which  they  built  a  fort  called  St.  Louis,  in  the  year  1682  ;  and  your  farm 
is  An  the  site  of  the  great  town  of  the  Illinois." 

I  spent  the  next  day  in  examining  these  localities,  and  was  fully  con- 
firmed in  my  conclusions.  Mr.  Clark's  tenant  showed  me  the  spot  where 
the  human  bones  were  ploughed  up.  It  was  no  doubt  the  graveyard 
violated  by  the  Iroquois.  The  Illinois  returned  to  the  village  after  their 
defeat,  and  long  continued  to  occupy  it.  The  scattered  bones  were  prob- 
ably collected  and  restored  to  their  place  of  burial. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 

1680. 
THE   ADVENTURES   OF  HENNEPIN. 

Hennepin    an  Impostor.  —  His  Pretended  Discovert.  —  His   Actual 
Discovery.  —  Captured  by  the  Sioux.  —  The  Upper  Mississippi. 

It  was  on  the  last  day  of  the  winter  that  preceded 
the  invasion  of  the  Iroquois,  that  Father  Hennepin, 
with  his  two  companions,  Accau  and  Du  Gay,  had 
set  out  from  Fort  Crevecceur  to  explore  the  Illinois 
to  its  mouth.  It  appears  from  his  own  later  state- 
ments, as  well  as  from  those  of  Tonty,  that  more 
than  this  was  expected  of  him,  and  that  La  Salle 
had  instructed  him  to  explore,  not  alone  the  Illinois, 
but  also  the  Upper  Mississippi.  That  he  actually 
did  so,  there  is  no  reasonable  doubt ;  and,  could  he 
have  contented  himself  with  telling  the  truth,  his 
name  would  have  stood  high  as  a  bold  and  vigorous 
discoverer.  But  his  vicious  attempts  to  malign  his 
commander,  and  plunder  him  of  his  laurels,  have 
wrapped  his  genuine  merit  in  a  cloud. 

Hennepin's  first  book  was  published  soon  after 
his  return  from  his  travels,  and  while  La  Salle  was 
still  alive.  In  it,  he  relates  the  accomplishment  of 
the  instructions  given  him,  without   the  smallest 


224  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

intimation  that  he  did  more.1  Fourteen  years  after, 
when  La  Salle  was  dead,  he  published  another 
edition  of  his  travels,2  in  which  he  advanced  a  new 
and  surprising  pretension.  Reasons  connected  with 
his  personal  safety,  he  declares,  before  compelled 
him  to  remain  silent ;  but  a  time  at  length  has 
come  when  the  truth  must  be  revealed.  And  he 
proceeds  to  affirm  that,  before  ascending  the  Missis- 
sippi, he,  with  his  two  men,  explored  its  whole 
course  from  the  Illinois  to  the  sea,  thus  anticipating 
the  discovery  which  forms  the  crowning  laurel  of 
La  Salle. 

"  I  am  resolved,"  he  says,  "  to  make  known  here 
to  the  whole  world  the  mystery  of  this  discovery, 
which  I  have  hitherto  concealed,  that  I  might  not 
offend  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  who  wished  to  keep 
all  the  glory  and  all  the  knowledge  of  it  to  himself. 
It  is  for  this  that  he  sacrificed  many  persons  whose 
lives  he  exposed,  to  prevent  them  from  making 
known  what  they  had  seen,  and  thereby  crossing 
his  secret  plans.  ...  I  was  certain  that  if  I  went 
down  the  Mississippi,  he  would  not  fail  to  traduce 
me  to  my  superiors  for  not  taking  the  northern 
route,  which  I  was  to  have  followed  in  accordance 
with  his  desire  and  the  plan  we  had  made  together. 
But  I  saw  myself  on  the  point  of  dying  of  hunger, 
and  knew  not  what  to  do ;  because  the  two  men 
who  were  with  me  threatened  openly  to  leave  me 
in  the  night,  and  carry  off  the  canoe,  and  every 


1697. 


1  Description  de  la  Louisiane,  nouvellement  decouverte,  Paris,  1683. 

2  Nouvelle  Decouverte  d'un  tres  grand  Pays  situe"  dans  VAme'rique,  Utrecht, 


1680.]  HENNEPIN  AN  IMPOSTOR.  225 

thing  in  it,  if  I  prevented  them  from  going  down 
the  river  to  the  nations  below.  Finding  myself  in 
this  dilemma,  I  thought  that  I  ought  not  to  hesitate, 
and  that  I  ought  to  prefer  my  own  safety  to  the 
violent  passion  which  possessed  the  Sieur  de  la 
Salle  of  enjoying  alone  the  glory  of  this  discovery. 
The  two  men,  seeing  that  I  had  made  up  my  mind 
to  follow  them,  promised  me  entire  fidelity ;  so, 
after  we  had  shaken  hands  together  as  a  mutual 
pledge,  we  set  out  on  our  voyage."  * 

He  then  proceeds  to  recount,  at  length,  the  par- 
ticulars of  his  alleged  exploration.  The  story  was 
distrusted  from  the  first.2  Why  had  he  not  told  it 
before  ?  An  excess  of  modesty,  a  lack  of  self- 
assertion,  or  a  too  sensitive  reluctance  to  wound 
the  susceptibilities  of  others,  had  never  been  found 
among  his  foibles.  Yet  some,  perhaps,  might  have 
believed  him,  had  he  not,  in  the  first  edition  of  his 
book,  gratuitously  and  distinctly  declared  that  he 
did  not  make  the  voyage  in  question.  "  We  had 
some  designs,"  he  says,  "  of  going  down  the  River 
Colbert  [Mississippi]  as  far  as  its  mouth ;  but  the 
tribes  that  took  us  prisoners  gave  us  no  time  to 
navigate  this  river  both  up  and  down."3 

In  declaring  to  the  world  the  achievement  which 
he  had  so  long  concealed  and  so  explicitly  denied, 
the    worthy   missionary   found    himself  in    serious 

1  Nouvelle  D€couverte,  248,  250,  251. 

2  See  the  preface  of  the  Spanish  translation  by  Don  Sebastian  Fer- 
nandez de  Medrano,  1699,  and  also  the  letter  of  Gravier,  dated  1701,  in 
Shea's  Early  Voyages  on  the  Mississippi.  Barcia,  Charlevoix,  Kalm,  and 
other  early  writers,  put  a  low  value  on  Hennepin's  veracity. 

3  Description  de  la  Louisiane,  218. 


226  THE  ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

embarrassment.  In  his  first  book,  he  had  stated 
that,  on  the  twelfth  of  March,  he  left  the  mouth  of 
the  Illinois  on  his  way  northward,  and  that,  on  the 
eleventh  of  April,  he  was  captured  by  the  Sioux, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  five  hundred 
miles  above.  This  would  give  him  only  a  month 
to  make  his  alleged  canoe-voyage  from  the  Illinois 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  again  upward  to  the 
place  of  his  capture,  —  a  distance  of  three  thousand 
two  hundred  and  sixty  miles.  With  his  means 
of  transportation,  three  months  would  have  been 
insufficient.1  He  saw  the  difficulty ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  he  saw  that  he  could  not  greatly 
change  either  date  without  confusing  the  parts  of 
his  narrative  which  preceded  and  which  followed. 
In  this  perplexity,  he  chose  a  middle  course, 
which  only  involved  him  in  additional  contradic- 
tions. Having,  as  he  affirms,  gone  down  to  the 
Gulf  and  returned  to  the  mouth  of  the  Illinois, 
he  set  out  thence  to  explore  the  river  above ;  and 
he  assigns  the  twenty-fourth  of  April  as  the  date 
of  this  departure.  This  gives  him  forty-three  days 
for  his  voyage  to  the  mouth  of  the  river  and  back. 
Looking  farther,  we  find  that,  having  left  the  Illi- 
nois on  the  twenty-fourth,  he  paddled  his  canoe 
two  hundred  leagues  northward,  and  was  then  cap- 
tured by  the  Sioux  on  the  twelfth  of  the  same 

1  La  Salle,  in  the  following  year,  with  a  far  better  equipment,  was 
more  than  three  months  and  a  half  in  making  the  journey.  A  Mississippi 
trading-boat  of  the  last  generation,  with  sails  and  oars,  ascending  against 
the  current,  was  thought  to  do  remarkably  well  if  it  could  make  twenty 
miles  a  day.  Hennepin,  if  we  believe  his  own  statements,  must  have 
ascended  at  an  average  rate  of  sixty  miles,  though  his  canoe  was  large 
and  heavily  laden. 


1680.]  HIS   CLAIMS   TO  BELIEF.  227 

month.     In  short,  he  ensnares  himself  in  a  hope- 
less confusion  of  dates.1 

Here,  one  would  think,  is  sufficient  reason  for 
rejecting  his  story ;  and  yet  the  general  truth  of 
the  descriptions,  and  a  certain  verisimilitude  which 
marks  it,  might  easily  deceive  a  careless  reader  and 
perplex  a  critical  one.  These,  however,  are  easily 
explained.  Six  years  before  Hennepin  published 
his  pretended  discovery,  his  brother  friar,  Father 
Chretien  Le  Clercq,  published  an  account  of  the 
Recollet  missions  among  the  Indians,  under  the 
title  of  "  Etablissement  de  la  Foi."  This  book  was 
suppressed  by  the  French  government ;  but  a  few 
copies  fortunately  survived.  One  of  these  is  now 
before  me.  It  contains  the  journal  of  Father 
Zenobe  Membre,  on  his  descent  of  the  Mississippi 
in  1681,  in  company  with  La  Salle.  The  slightest 
comparison  of  his  narrative  with  that  of  Hennepin 
is  sufficient  to  show  that  the  latter  framed  his  own 
story  out  of  incidents  and  descriptions  furnished  by 
his  brother  missionary,  often  using  his  very  words, 
and  sometimes  copying  entire  pages,  with  no  other 
alterations  than  such  as  were  necessary  to  make 
himself,  instead  of  La  Salle  and  his  companions, 
the  hero  of  the  exploit.      The  records  of  literary 


1  Hennepin  here  falls  into  gratuitous  inconsistencies.  In  the  edition 
of  1697,  in  order  to  gain  a  little  time,  he  says  that  he  left  the  Illinois  on 
his  voyage  southward  on  the  eighth  of  March,  lo80;  and  yet,  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter,  he  repeats  the  statement  of  the  first  edition,  that  he  was 
detained  at  the  Illinois  by  floating  ice  till  the  twelfth.  Again,  he  says  in 
the  first  edition,  that  he  was  captured  by  the  Sioux  on  the  eleventh  of 
April ;  and  in  the  edition  of  1697,  he  changes  this  date  to  the  twelfth, 
without  gaining  any  advantage  by  doing  so. 


228  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

piracy  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  an  act  of  depre- 
dation more  recklessly  impudent.1 

Such  being  the  case,  what  faith  can  we  put  in 
the  rest  of  Hennepin's  story?  Fortunately,  there 
are  tests  by  which  the  earlier  parts  of  his  book  can 
be  tried ;  and,  on  the  whole,  they  square  exceed- 
ingly wTell  with  contemporary  records  of  undoubted 
authenticity.  Bating  his  exaggerations  respecting 
the  Falls  of  Niagara,  his  local  descriptions,  and 
even  his  estimates  of  distance,  are  generally  accu- 
rate. He  constantly,  it  is  true,  magnifies  his  own 
acts,  and  thrusts  himself  forward  as  one  of  the 
chiefs  of  an  enterprise,  to  the  costs  of  which  he 
had  contributed  nothing,  and  to  which  he  was 
merely  an  appendage ;  and  yet,  till  he  reaches  the 
Mississippi,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that,  in  the 
main,  he  tells  the  truth.     As  for  his  ascent  of  that 

1  Hennepin  may  have  copied  from  the  unpublished  journal  of  Membre, 
which  the  latter  had  placed  in  the  hands  of  his  superior,  or  he  may  have 
compiled  from  Le  Clercq' s  book,  relying  on  the  suppression  of  the  edition 
to  prevent  detection.  He  certainly  saw  and  used  it.  for  he  elsewhere  bor- 
rows the  exact  words  of  the  editor.  He  is  so  careless  that  he  steals  from 
Membre  passages  which  he  might  easily  have  written  for  himself,  as,  for 
example,  a  description  of  the  opossum  and  another  of  the  cougar,  animals 
with  which  he  was  acquainted.  Compare  the  following  pages  of  the 
Nouvelle  Deiouverte  with  the  corresponding  pages  of  Le  Clercq  :  Hen- 
nepin, 252,  Le  Clercq,  ii.  217;  H.  253,  Le  C.  ii.  218;  H.  257,  Le  C.  ii. 
221  ;  H.  259,  Le  C.  ii.  224  ;  H.  262,  Le  C.  ii.  226 ;  H.  265,  Le  C.  ii.  229 ; 
II.  267.  Le  C.  ii.  233  ;  H.  270,  Le  C.  ii.  235 ;  H.  280,  Le  C.  ii.  240 ;  H. 
295,  Le  C.  ii.  249  ;  H.  296,  Le  C.  ii.  250 ;  H.  297,  Le  C.  ii.  253  ;  H.  299, 
Le  C.  ii.  254  ;  H.  301,  Le  C.  ii.  257.  Some  of  these  parallel  passages  will 
be  found  in  Sparks's  Life  of  La  Salle,  where  this  remarkable  fraud  was 
first  fully  exposed.  In  Shea's  Discovery  of  the  Mississippi,  there  is  an 
excellent  critical  examination  of  Hennepin's  works.  His  plagiarisms 
from  Le  Clercq  are  not  confined  to  the  passages  cited  above  ;  for,  in  his 
later  editions,  he  stole  largely  from  other  parts  of  the  suppressed  Etab- 
lissement  de  la  Foi. 


1680.]  HIS   VOYAGE   NORTHWARD.  229 

river  to  the  country  of  the  Sioux,  the  general  state- 
ment is  fully  confirmed  by  allusions  of  Tonty,  and 
other  contemporary  writers.1  For  the  details  of 
the  journey,  we  must  rest  on  Hennepin  alone  ; 
whose  account  of  the  country,  and  of  the  peculiar 
traits  of  its  Indian  occupants,  afford,  as  far  as  they 
go,  good  evidence  of  truth.  Indeed,  this  part  of 
his  narrative  could  only  have  been  written  by  one 
well  versed  in  the  savage  life  of  this  north-western 
region.2     Trusting,   then,   to   his   guidance   in  the 

1  It  is  certain  that  persons  having  the  best  means  of  information  be- 
lieved at  the  time  in  Hennepin's  story  of  his  journeys  on  the  Upper  Mis- 
sissippi. The  compiler  of  the  Relation  des  De'couvertes,  who  was  in  close 
relations  with  La  Salle  and  those  who  acted  with  him,  does  not  intimate  a 
doubt  of  the  truth  of  the  report  which  Hennepin,  on  his  return,  gave  to 
the  Provincial  Commissary  of  his  Order,  and  which  is  in  substance  the 
same  which  he  published  two  years  later.  The  Relation,  it  is  to  be  ob- 
served, was  written  only  a  few  months  after  the  return  of  Hennepin,  and 
embodies  the  pith  of  his  narrative  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  no  part  of 
which  had  then  been  published. 

2  In  this  connection,  it  is  well  to  examine  the  various  Sioux  words 
which  Hennepin  uses  incidentally,  and  which  he  must  have  acquired  by 
personal  intercourse  with  the  tribe,  as  no  Frenchman  then  understood  the 
language.  These  words,  as  far  as  my  information  reaches,  are  in  every 
instance  correct.  Thus,  he  says  that  the  Sioux  called  his  breviary  a 
"bad  spirit" — Ouackanch€.  Wakanshe,  or  Wakanshecha,  would  express 
the  same  meaning  in  modern  English  spelling.  He  says  elsewhere  that 
they  called  the  guns  of  his  companions  Manzaouackanche,  which  he  trans- 
lates, "  iron  possessed  wkh  a  bad  spirit."  The  western  Sioux  to  this 
day  call  a  gun  Manzawakan,  "  metal  possessed  with  a  spirit."  Chonga 
(shonka),  "a  dog,"  Ouasi  (wahsee),  "a  pine-tree,"  Chinnen  (shinnan),  "a 
robe,"  or  "  garment,"  and  other  words,  are  given  correctly,  with  their 
interpretations.  The  word  Louis,  affirmed  by  Hennepin  to  mean  "  the 
sun,"  seems  at  first  sight  a  wilful  inaccuracy,  as  this  is  not  the  word  used 
in  general  by  the  Sioux.  The  Yankton  band  of  this  people,  however, 
call  the  sun  oouee,  which,  it  is  evident,  represents  the  French  pronuncia- 
tion of  Louis,  omitting  the  initial  letter.  This,  Hennepin  would  be  apt 
enough  to  supply,  thereby  conferring  a  compliment  alike  on  himself, 
Louis  Hennepin,  and  on  the  King,  Louis  XIV.,  who,  to  the  indignation 
of  his  brother  monarchs,  had  chosen  the  sun  as  his  emblem. 

A  variety  of  trivial  incidents  touched  upon  bv  Hennepin,  while  re- 
20 


230  THE  ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

absence  of  better,  let  us  follow  in  the  wake  of  his 
adventurous  canoe. 

It  was  laden  deeply  with  goods  belonging  to  La 
Salle,  and  meant  by  him  as  presents  to  Indians  on 
the  way,  though  the  travellers,  it  appears,  proposed 
to  use  them  in  trading  on  their  own  account.  The 
friar  was  still  wrapped  in  his  gray  capote  and  hood, 
shod  with  sandals,  and  decorated  with  the  cord  of 
St.  Francis.  As  for  his  two  companions,  Accau  * 
and  Du  Gay,  it  is  tolerably  clear  that  the  former 
was  the  real  leader  of  the  party,  though  Hennepin, 
after  his  custom,  thrusts  himself  into  the  foremost 
place.  Both  were  somewhat  above  the  station  of 
ordinary  hired  hands  ;  and  Du  Gay  had  an  uncle 
who  was  an  ecclesiastic  of  good  credit  at  Amiens, 
his  native  place. 

In  the  forests  that  overhung  the  river,  the  buds 
were  feebly  swelling  with  advancing  spring.  There 
was  game  enough.  They  killed  buffalo,  deer, 
beavers,  wild  turkeys,  and  now  and  then  a  bear 
swimming  in  the  river.  With  these,  and  the  fish 
which  they  caught  in  abundance,  they  fared  sump- 
tuously, though  it  was  the  season  of  Lent.  They 
were  exemplary,  however,  at  their  devotions.  Hen- 
nepin said  prayers  at  morning  and  night,  and  the 
angelus  at  noon,  adding  a  petition  to  St.  Anthony 
of  Padua,  that  he  would  save  them  from  the  peril 

counting  his  life  among  the  Sioux,  seem  to  me  to  afford  a  strong  pre- 
sumption of  an  actual  experience.  I  speak  on  this  point  with  the  more 
confidence,  as  the  Indians  in  whose  lodges  I  was  once  domesticated  for 
several  weeks,  belonged  to  a  western  hand  of  the  same  people. 

1  Called  Ako  by  Hennepin.  In  contemporary  documents  it  is  written 
Accau,  Acau,  D'Accau,  Dacau,  Dacan,  and  d'Accault. 


1680.]  CAPTURED   BY   THE   SIOUX.  231 

that  beset  their  way.  In  truth,  there  was  a  lion  in 
the  path.  The  ferocious  character  of  the  Sioux, 
or  Dacotah,  who  occupied  the  region  of  the  Upper 
Mississippi,  was  already  known  to  the  French  ;  and 
Hennepin,  not  without  reason,  prayed  that  it  might 
be  his  fortune  to  meet  them,  not  by  night,  but  by 
day. 

On  the  eleventh  or  twelfth  of  April,  they  stopped 
in  the  afternoon  to  repair  their  canoe ;  and  Henne- 
pin busied  himself  in  daubing  it  with  pitch,  while 
the  others  cooked  a  turkey.  Suddenly  a  fleet  of 
Sioux  canoes  swept  into  sight,  bearing  a  war-party 
of  a  hundred  and  twenty  naked  savages,  who,  on 
seeing  the  travellers,  raised  a  hideous  clamor ;  and 
some  leaping  ashore  and  others  into  the  water,  they 
surrounded  the  astonished  Frenchmen  in  an  instant. ' 
Hennepin  held  out  the  peace-pipe,  but  one  of  them 
snatched  it  from  him.  Next,  he  hastened  to  proffer 
a  gift  of  Martinique  tobacco,  which  was  better  re- 
ceived. Some  of  the  old  warriors  repeated  the 
name  Miamiha,  giving  him  to  understand  that  they 
were  a  war-party  on  the  way  to  attack  the  Miamis  ; 
on  which  Hennepin,  with  the  help  of  signs  and  of 
marks  which  he  drew  on  the  sand  with  a  stick, 
explained  that  the  Miamis  had  gone  across  the 
Mississippi  beyond  their  reach.  Hereupon,  he  says 
that  three  or  four  old  men  placed  their  hands  on 
his  head,  and  began  a  dismal  wailing ;  while  he 
with    his    handkerchief   wiped    away    their    tears 

1  The  edition  of  1683  says  that  there  were  thirty-three  canoes  :  that 
of  1697  raises  the  number  to  fifty.  The  number  of  Indians  is  the  same 
in  both.     The  later  narrative  is  more  in  detail  than  the  former. 


232  THE  ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

in  order  to  evince  sympathy  with  their  affliction, 
from  whatever  cause  arising.  Notwithstanding 
this  demonstration  of  tenderness,  they  refused  to 
smoke  with  him  in  his  peace-pipe,  and  forced  him 
and  his  companions  to  embark  and  paddle  across 
the  river ;  while  they  all  followed  behind,  uttering 
yells  and  howlings  which  froze  the  missionary's 
blood. 

On  reaching  the  farther  side,  they  made  their 
camp-fires,  and  allowed  their  prisoners  to  do  the 
same.  Accau  and  Du  Gay  slung  their  kettle  ;  while 
Hennepin,  to  propitiate  the  Sioux,  carried  to  them 
two  turkeys,  of  which  there  were  several  in  the 
canoe.  The  warriors  had  seated  themselves  in 
a  ring,  to  debate  on  the  fate  of  the  Frenchmen  ; 
and  two  chiefs  presently  explained  to  the  friar,  by 
significant  signs,  that  it  had  been  resolved  that 
his  head  should  be  split  with  a  war-club.  This 
produced  the  effect  which  was  no  doubt  intended. 
Hennepin  ran  to  the  canoe,  and  quickly  returned 
with  one  of  the  men,  both  loaded  with  presents, 
which  he  threw  into  the  midst  of  the  assembly  ; 
and  then,  bowing  his  head,  offered  them  at  the 
same  time  a  hatchet  with  which  to  kill  him  if  they 
wished  to  do  so.  His  gifts  and  his  submission 
seemed  to  appease  them.  They  gave  him  and  his 
companions  a  dish  of  beaver  s  flesh  ;  but,  to  his  great 
concern,  they  returned  his  peace-pipe,  an  act  which 
he  interpreted  as  a  sign  of  danger.  That  night, 
the  Frenchmen  slept  little,  expecting  to  be  murdered 
before  morning.  There  was,  in  fact,  a  great  divi- 
sion of  opinion  among  the  Sioux.     Some  were  for 


1680.]  SUSPECTED   OF   SORCERY.  233 

killing  them,  and  taking  their  goods ;  while  others, 
eager  above  all  things  that  French  traders  should 
come  among  them  with  the  knives,  hatchets,  and 
guns  of  which  they  had  heard  the  value,  contended 
that  it  would  be  impolitic  to  discourage  the  trade 
by  putting  to  death  its  pioneers. 

Scarcely  had  morning  dawned  on  the  anxious 
captives,  when  a  young  chief,  naked,  and  painted 
from  head  to  foot,  appeared  before  them,  and  asked 
for  the  pipe,  which  the  friar  gladly  gave  him.  He 
filled  it,  smoked  it,  made  the  warriors  do  the  same, 
and,  having  given  this  hopeful  pledge  of  amity,  told 
the  Frenchmen  that,  since  the  Miamis  were  out  of 
reach,  the  war-party  would  return  home,  and  that 
they  must  accompany  them.  To  this  Hennepin 
gladly  agreed,  having,  as  he  declares,  his  great 
work  of  exploration  so  much  at  heart  that  he 
rejoiced  in  the  prospect  of  achieving  it  even  in 
their  company. 

He  soon,  however,  had  a  foretaste  of  the  afflic- 
tion in  store  for  him ;  for,  when  he  opened  his 
breviary  and  began  to  mutter  his  morning  devotion, 
his  new  companions  gathered  about  him  with  faces 
that  betrayed  their  superstitious  terror,  and  gave 
him  to  understand  that  his  book  was  a  bad  spirit 
with  which  he  must  hold  no  more  converse.  They 
thought,  indeed,  that  he  was  muttering  a  charm  for 
their  destruction.  Accau  and  Du  Gay,  conscious 
of  the  danger,  begged  the  friar  to  dispense  with 
his  devotions,  lest  he  and  they  alike  should  be 
tomahawked  ;  but  Hennepin  says  that  his  sense  of 

duty  rose  superior   to  his  fears,  and  that  he  was 

20* 


234:  THE  ADVENTUEES   OF  HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

resolved  to  repeat  his  office  at  all  hazards,  though 
not  until  he  had  asked  pardon  of  his  two  friends 
for  thus  imperilling  their  lives.  Fortunately,  he 
presently  discovered  a  device  by  which  his  devotion 
and  his  prudence  were  completely  reconciled.  He 
ceased  the  muttering  which  had  alarmed  the  In- 
dians, and,  with  the  breviary  open  on  his  knees, 
sang  the  service  in  loud  and  cheerful  tones.  As 
this  had  no  savor  of  sorcery,  and  as  they  now 
imagined  that  the  book  was  teaching  its  owner  to 
sing  for  then  amusement,  they  conceived  a  favor- 
able opinion  of  both  alike. 

These  Sioux,  it  may  be  observed,  were  the  an- 
cestors of  those  who  committed  the  horrible  but 
not  unprovoked  massacres  of  1863,  in  the  valley 
of  the  St.  Peter.  Hennepin  complains  bitterly  of 
their  treatment  of  him,  which,  however,  seems  to 
have  been  tolerably  good.  Afraid  that  he  would 
lag  behind,  as  his  canoe  was  heavy  and  slow,1  they 
placed  several  warriors  in  it,  to  aid  him  and  his 
men  in  paddling.  They  kept  on  their  way  from 
morning  till  night,  building  huts  for  their  bivouac 
when  it  rained,  and  sleeping  on  the  open  ground 
when  the  weather  was  fair,  which,  says  Hennepin, 
"  gave  us  a  good  opportunity  to  contemplate  the 
moon  and  stars."  The  three  Frenchmen  took  the 
precaution  of  sleeping  at  the  side  of  the  young 
chief  who  had  been  the  first  to  smoke  the  peace- 
pipe,  and  who  seemed  inclined  to  befriend  them ; 

1  And  yet  it  had,  by  his  account,  made  a  distance  of  thirteen  hundred 
and  eighty  miles  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  upward  in  twenty -four 
days. 


1680.J  THE   CAPTIVE  FRIAR.  235 

but  there  was  another  chief,  one  Aquipaguetin,  a 
crafty  old  savage,  who,  having  lost  a  son  in  war 
with  the  Miamis,  was  angry  that  the  party  had 
abandoned  their  expedition,  and  thus  deprived  him. 
of  his  revenge.  He  therefore  kept  up  a  dismal 
lament  through  half  the  night ;  while  other  old  men, 
crouching  over  Hennepin  as  he  lay  trying  to  sleep, 
stroked  him  with  their  hands,  and  uttered  waitings 
so  lugubrious  that  he  was  forced  to  the  belief  that 
he  had  been  doomed  to  death,  and  that  they  were 
charitably  bemoaning  his  fate.1 

One  night,  they  were,  for  some  reason,  unable  to 
bivouac  near  their  protector,  and  were  forced  to  make 
their  tire  at  the  end  of  the  camp.  Here  they  were 
soon  beset  by  a  crowd  of  Indians,  who  told  them 
that  Aquipaguetin  had  at  length  resolved  to  toma 
hawk  them.  The  malcontents  were  gathered  in  a 
knot  at  a  little  distance,  and  Hennepin  hastened  to 
appease  them  by  another  gift  of  knives  and  tobacco. 
This  was  but  one  of  the  devices  of  the  old  chief 
to  deprive  them  of  their  goods  without  robbing 
them  outright.  He  had  with  him  the  bones  of  a 
deceased  relative,  which  he  was  carrying  home 
wrapped  in  skins  prepared  with  smoke  after  the 
Indian  fashion,  and  gayly  decorated  with  bands  of 
dyed  porcupine  quills.  He  would  summon  his  war- 
riors, and,  placing  these  relics  in  the  midst  of  the 

1  This  weeping  and  wailing  over  Hennepin  once  seemed  to  me  an 
anomaly  in  his  account  of  Sioux  manners,  as  I  am  not  aware  that  such 
practices  are  to  be  found  among  them  at  present.  They  are  mentioned, 
however,  by  other  early  writers.  Le  Sueur,  who  was  among  them  in 
1699-1700,  was  wept  over  no  less  than  Hennepin.  See  the  abstract  of 
his  journal  in  La  Harpe. 


236  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680. 

assembly,  call  on  all  present  to  smoke  in  their  honor  ; 
after  which  Hennepin  was  required  to  offer  a  more 
substantial  tribute  in  the  shape  of  cloth,  beads, 
hatchets,  tobacco,  and  the  like,  to  be  laid  upon  the 
bundle  of  bones.  The  gifts  thus  acquired  were 
then,  in  the  name  of  the  deceased,  distributed 
among  the  persons  present. 

On  one  occasion,  Aquipaguetin  killed  a  bear,  and 
invited  the  chiefs  and  warriors  to  feast  upon  it. 
They  accordingly  assembled  on  a  prairie,  west  of 
the  river ;  and,  the  banquet  over,  they  danced  a 
"  medicine-dance."  They  were  all  painted  from 
head  to  foot,  with  their  hair  oiled,  garnished  with 
red  and  white  feathers,  and  powdered  with  the 
down  of  birds.  In  this  guise,  they  set  their  arms 
akimbo,  and  fell  to  stamping  with  such  fury  that 
the  hard  prairie  was  dented  with  the  prints  of  their 
moccasons  ;  while  the  chief's  son,  crying  at  the  top 
of  his  throat,  gave  to  each  in  turn  the  pipe  of  war. 
Meanwhile,  the  chief  himself,  singing  in  a  loud  and 
rueful  voice,  placed  his  hands  on  the  heads  of  the 
three  Frenchmen,  and  from  time  to  time  interrupted 
his  music  to  utter  a  vehement  harangue.  Hennepin 
could  not  understand  the  words,  but  his  heart  sank 
as  the  conviction  grew  strong  within  him  that  these 
ceremonies  tended  to  his  destruction.  It  seems, 
however,  that,  after  all  the  chief's  efforts,  his  part} 
was  in  the  minority,  the  greater  part  being  averse 
to  either  killing  or  robbing  the  three  strangers. 

Every  morning,  at  daybreak,  an  old  warrior 
shouted  the  signal  of  departure ;  and  the  recum- 
bent savages  leaped  up,  manned  their  birchen  lieet, 


1680.]  A   HARD  JOURNEY.  237 

and  plied  their  paddles  against  the  current,  often 
without  waiting  to  break  their  fast.  Sometimes 
they  stopped  for  a  buffalo-hunt  on  the  neighbor- 
ing prairies ;  and  there  was  no  lack  of  provisions. 
They  passed  Lake  Pepin,  which  Hennepin  called 
the  Lake  of  Tears,  by  reason  of  the  howlings  and 
lamentations  here  uttered  over  him  by  Aquipague- 
tin ;  and,  nineteen  days  after  his  capture,  landed 
near  the  site  of  St.  Paul.  The  father's  sorrows 
now  began  in  earnest.  The  Indians  broke  his  canoe 
to  pieces,  having  first  hidden  their  own  among  the 
alder-bushes.  As  they  belonged  to  different  bands 
and  different  villages,  their  mutual  jealousy  now 
overcame  all  their  prudence,  and  each  proceeded 
to  claim  his  share  of  the  captives  and  the  booty. 
Happily,  they  made  an  amicable  distribution,  or  it 
would  have  fared  ill  with  the  three  Frenchmen  ;  and 
each  taking  his  share,  not  forgetting  the  priestly 
vestments  of  Hennepin,  the  splendor  of  which  they 
could  not  sufficiently  admire,  they  set  out  across 
the  country  for  their  villages,  which  lay  towards 
the  north,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Lake  Buade, 
now  called  Mille  Lac. 

Being,  says  Hennepin,  exceedingly  tall  and  active, 
they  walked  at  a  prodigious  speed,  insomuch  that 
no  European  could  long  keep  pace  with  them. 
Though  the  month  of  May  had  begun,  there  were 
frosts  at  night ;  and  the  marshes  and  ponds  were 
glazed  with  ice,  which  cut  the  missionary's  legs 
as  he  waded  through.  They  swam  the  larger 
streams,  and  Hennepin  nearly  perished  With  cold 
as  he  emerged   from  the  icy  current.      His  two 


238  THE   ADVENTURES   OF   HENNEPIN.  [1680- 

companions,  who  were  smaller  than  he,  and  who 
could  not  swim,  were  carried  over  on  the  backs 
of  the  Indians.  They  showed,  however,  no  little 
endurance ;  and  he  declares  that  he  should  have 
dropped  by  the  way,  but  for  their  support.  Seeing 
him  disposed  to  lag,  the  Indians,  to  spur  him  on, 
set  fire  to  the  dry  grass  behind  him,  and  then, 
taking  him  by  the  hands,  ran  forward  with  him  to 
escape  the  flames.  To  add  to  his  misery,  he  was 
nearly  famished,  as  they  gave  him  only  a  small 
piece  of  smoked  meat,  once  a  day,  though  it  does 
not  appear  that  they  themselves  fared  better.  On 
the  fifth  day,  being  by  this  time  in  extremity,  he 
saw  a  crowd  of  squaws  and  children  approaching 
over  the  prairie,  and  presently  descried  the  bark 
lodges  of  an  Indian  town.  The  goal  was  reached. 
He  was  among  the  homes  of  the  Sioux. 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

1680,  1681. 
HENNEPIN  AMONG  THE   SIOUX. 

Signs  of  Danger.  —  Adoption.  —  Hennepin  and  his  Indian  Relatives. 

—  The  Hunting  Party.  —  The  Sioux  Camp.  — Falls  of  St.  Anthony. 

—  A  Vagabond   Friar.  —  His    Adventures  on   the   Mississippi.  — 
Greysolon  Du  Lhut.  —  Return  to  Civilization. 

As  Hennepin  entered  the  village,  he  beheld  a 
sight  which  caused  him  to  invoke  St.  Anthony  of 
Padua.  In  front  of  the  lodges  were  certain  stakes, 
to  which  were  attached  bundles  of  straw,  intended, 
as  he  supposed,  for  burning  him  and  his  friends 
alive.  His  concern  was  redoubled  when  he  saw 
the  condition  of  the  Picard  Du  Gay,  whose  hair  and 
face  had  been  painted  with  divers  colors,  and  whose 
head  was  decorated  with  a  tuft  of  white  feathers. 
In  this  guise,  he  was  entering  the  village,  followed 
by  a  crowd  of  Sioux,  who  compelled  him  to  sing 
and  keep  time  to  his  own  music  by  rattling  a  dried 
gourd  containing  a  number  of  pebbles.  The  omens, 
indeed,  were  exceedingly  threatening  ;  for  treatment 
like  this  was  usually  followed  by  the  speedy  immo- 
lation of  the  captive.  Hennepin  ascribes  it  to  the 
effect  of  his  invocations,  that,  being  led  into  one 
of  the  lodges,  among  a  throng  of  staring  squaws 


240  HENNEPIN  AMONG   THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

and  children,  he  and  his  companions  were  seated 
on  the  ground,  and  presented  with  large  dishes  of 
birch  bark,  containing  a  mess  of  wild  rice  boiled 
with  dried  whortleberries  ;  a  repast  which  he  de- 
clares to  have  been  the  best  that  had  fallen  to  his 
lot  since  the  day  of  his  captivity.1 

This  soothed  his  fears :  but,  as  he  allayed  his 
famished  appetite,  he  listened  with  anxious  interest 

1  The  Sioux,  or  Dacotah,  as  they  call  themselves,  were  a  numerous 
people,  separated  into  three  great  divisions,  which  were  again  subdivided 
into  bands.  Those  among  whom  Hennepin  was  a  prisoner  belonged  to 
the  division  known  as  the  Issanti,  Issanyati,  or,  as  he  writes  it,  Issati,  of 
which  the  principal  band  was  the  Meddewakantonwan.  The  other  great 
divisions,  the  Yank  tons  and  the  Tintonwans,  or  Tetons,  lived  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  extending  beyond  the  Missouri,  and  ranging  as  far  as  the 
Rocky  Mountains.  The  Issanti  cultivated  the  soil,  but  the  extreme  west- 
ern bands  subsisted  on  the  buffalo  alone.  The  former  had  two  kinds  of 
dwelling,  —  the  teepee  or  skin  lodge,  and  the  bark  lodge.  The  teepee,  which 
was  used  by  all  the  Sioux,  consists  of  a  covering  of  dressed  buffalo  hide 
stretched  on  a  conical  stack  of  poles.  The  bark  lodge  was  peculiar  to  the 
eastern  Sioux,  and  examples  of  it  might  be  seen  until  within  a  few  years 
among  the  bands  on  the  St.  Peter's.  In  its  general  character  it  was  like 
the  Huron  and  Iroquois  houses,  but  was  inferior  in  construction.  It  had 
a  ridge  roof  framed  of  poles  extending  from  the  posts  which  formed  the 
sides,  and  the  whole  was  covered  with  elm-bark.  The  lodges  in  the  vil- 
lages to  which  Hennepin  was  conducted  were  probably  of  this  kind. 

The  name  Sioux  is  an  abbreviation  of  Nadonessioux,  an  Ojibwa  word 
meaning  enemies.  The  Ojibwas  used  it  to  designate  this  people,  and 
occasionally  also  the  Iroquois,  being  at  deadly  war  with  both. 

Rev.  Stephen  R.  Riggs,  for  many  years  a  missionary  among  the 
Issanti  Sioux,  says  that  this  division  consists  of  four  distinct  bands.  They 
ceded  all  their  lands  east  of  the  Mississippi  to  the  United  States  in  1837, 
and  lived  on  the  St.  Peter's  till  driven  thence  in  consequence  of  the 
massacres  of  1862, 1863.  The  Yankton  Sioux  consist  of  two  bands,  which 
are  again  subdivided.  The  Assiniboins,  or  Hohays,  are  an  offshoot  from 
the  Yanktons,  with  whom  they  are  now  at  war.  The  Titonwan  or  Teton 
Sioux,  forming  the  most  western  division,  and  the  largest,  comprise  seven 
bands,  and  are  among  the  bravest  and  fiercest  tenants  of  the  prairie. 

The  earliest  French  writers  estimate  the  total  number  of  the  Sioux  at 
forty  thousand.  Mr.  Riggs,  in  1852,  placed  it  at  about  twenty-five  thou- 
sand. Like  many  other  Indian  tribes,  they  seem  practically  incapable  of 
civilization. 


1680.]  HOMES   OF   THE   SIOUX.  241 

to  the  vehement  jargon  of  the  chiefs  and  warriors, 
who  were  disputing  among  themselves  to  whom 
the  three  captives  should  respectively  belong ;  for 
it  seems  that,  as  far  as  related  to  them,  the  ques- 
tion of  distribution  had  not  yet  been  definitely 
settled.  The  debate  ended  in  the  assigning  of 
Hennepin  to  his  old  enemy  Aquipaguetin ;  who, 
however,  far  from  persisting  in  his  evil  designs, 
adopted  him  on  the  spot  as  his  son.  The  three 
companions  must  now  part  company.  Du  Gay,  not 
yet  quite  reassured  of  his  safety,  hastened  to  con- 
fess himself  to  Hennepin,  but  Accau  proved  refrac- 
tory and  refused  the  offices  of  religion,  which  did 
not  prevent  the  friar  from  embracing  them  both, 
as  he  says,  with  an  extreme  tenderness.  Tired  as 
he  was,  he  was  forced  to  set  out  with  his  self- 
styled  father  to  his  village,  which  was  fortunately 
not  far  off.  An  unpleasant  walk  of  a  few  miles 
through  woods  and  marshes  brought  them  to  the 
borders  of  a  sheet  of  water,  apparently  Lake  Buade, 
where  five  of  Aquipaguetin's  wives  received  the 
party  in  three  canoes,  and  ferried  them  to  an  island 
on  which  the  village  stood. 

At  the  entrance  of  the  chief's  lodge,  Hennepin 
was  met  by  a  decrepit  old  Indian,  withered  with 
age,  who  offered  him  the  peace-pipe,  and  placed 
him  on  a  bear-skin  which  was  spread  by  the  fire. 
Here,  to  relieve  his  fatigue,  for  he  was  well-nigh 
spent,  a  small  boy  anointed  his  limbs  with  the  fat 
of  a  wild  cat,  supposed  to  be  sovereign  in  these 
cases  by  reason  of  the  great  agility  of  that  animal. 
His  new  father  gave  him  a  bark  platter  of  fish, 

21 


242  HENNEPIN  AMONG   THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

covered  him  with  a  buffalo  robe,  and  showed  him  six 
or  seven  of  his  wives,  who  were  thenceforth,  he  was 
told,  to  regard  him  as  a  son.  The  chief's  house- 
hold was  numerous  ;  and  his  allies  and  relations 
formed  a  considerable  clan,  of  which  the  missionary 
found  himself  an  involuntary  member.  He  was 
scandalized  when  he  saw  one  of  his  adopted  brothers 
carrying  on  his  back  the  bones  of  a  deceased  friend, 
wrapped  in  the  chasuble  of  brocade  which  they  had 
taken  with  other  vestments  from  his  box. 

Seeing  their  new  relative  so  enfeebled  that  he 
could  scarcely  stand,  the  Indians  made  for  him 
one  of  their  sweating  baths,1  where  they  immersed 
him  in  steam  three  times  a  week ;  a  process  from 
which  he  thinks  he  derived  great  benefit.  His 
strength  gradually  returned,  in  spite  of  his  meagre 
fare ;  for  there  was  a  dearth  of  food,  and  the 
squaws  were  less  attentive  to  his  wants  than  to 
those  of  their  children.  They  respected  him,  how- 
ever, as  a  person  endowed  with  occult  powers,  and 
stood  in  no  little  awe  of  a  pocket  compass  which 
he  had  with  him,  as  well  as  of  a  small  metal  pot 
with  feet  moulded  after  the  face  of  a  lion.  This 
last  seemed  in  their  eyes  a  "  medicine  "  of  the  most 
formidable  nature,  and  they  would  not  touch  it  with- 
out first  wrapping  it  in  a  beaver-skin.  For  the  rest, 
Hennepin-  made  himself  useful  in  various  ways. 
He  shaved  the  heads  of  the  children,  as  was  the 

1  These  baths  consist  of  a  small  hut,  covered  closely  with  buffalo- 
skins,  into  which  the  patient  and  his  friends  enter,  carefully  closing  every 
aperture.  A  pile  of  heated  stones  is  placed  in  the  middle,  and  water  is 
poured  upon  them,  raising  a  dense  vapor.  They  are  still,  1868,  in  use 
among  the  Sioux  and  some  other  tribes. 


1680.]  HUNTING  PARTY.  243 

custom  of  the  tribe,  bled  certain  asthmatic  persons, 
and  dosed  others  with  orvietan,  the  famous  pana- 
cea of  his  time,  of  which  he  had  brought  with  him 
a  good  supply.  With  respect  to  his  missionary 
functions,  he  seems  to  have  given  himself  little 
trouble,  unless  his  attempt  to  make  a  Sioux  vocab- 
ulary is  to  be  regarded  as  preparatory  to  a  future 
apostleship.  "  I  could  gain  nothing  over  them," 
he  says,  "  in  the  way  of-  their  salvation,  by  reason 
of  their  natural  stupidity."  Nevertheless,  on  one 
occasion  he  baptized  a  sick  child,  naming  it  Antoi- 
nette in  honor  of  St.  Anthony  of  Padua.  It  seemed 
to  revive  after  the  rite,  but  soon  relapsed  and  pre- 
sently died,  "  which,"  he  writes,  "  gave  me  great 
joy  and  satisfaction."  In  this,  he  was  like  the 
Jesuits,  who  could  find  nothing  but  consolation  in 
the  death  of  a  newly  baptized  infant,  since  it  was 
thus  assured  of  a  paradise  which,  had  it  lived,  it 
would  probably  have  forfeited  by  sharing  in  the 
superstitions  of  its  parents. 

With  respect  to  Hennepin  and  his  Indian  father, 
there  seems  to  have  been  little  love  on  either  side  ; 
but  Ouasicoude,  the  principal  chief  of  the  Sioux  of 
this  region,  was  the  fast  friend  of  the  three  white 
men.  He  was  angry  that  they  had  been  robbed,  which 
he  had  been  unable  to  prevent,  as  the  Sioux  had  no 
laws,  and  their  chiefs  little  power  ;  but  he  spoke  his 
mind  freely,  and  told  Aquipaguetin  and  the  rest,  in 
full  council,  that  they  were  like  a  dog  who  steals  a 
piece  of  meat  from  a  dish,  and  runs  away  with  it. 
When  Hennepin  complained  of  hunger,  the  Indians 
had  always  promised  him  that  early  in  the  summer 


244  HENNEPIN  AMONG   THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

he  should  go  with  them  on  a  buffalo  hunt,  and  have 
food  in  abundance.  The  time  at  length  came,  and 
the  inhabitants  of  all  the  neighboring  villages  pre- 
pared for  departure.  To  each  several  band  was 
assigned  its  special  hunting-ground,  and  he  was 
expected  to  accompany  his  Indian  father.  To  this 
he  demurred  ;  for  he  feared  lest  Aquipaguetin,  angry 
at  the  words  of  the  great  chief,  might  take  this 
opportunity  to  revenge  the  insult  put  upon  him. 
He  therefore  gave  out  that  he  expected  a  party  of 
"  spirits,"  that  is  to  say,  Frenchmen,  to  meet  him 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Wisconsin,  bringing  a  supply 
of  goods  for  the  Indians ;  and  he  declares  that  La 
Salle  had  in  fact  promised  to  send  traders  to  that 
place.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  Indians  believed  him ; 
and,  true  or  false,  the  assertion,  as  will  be  seen,  an- 
swered the  purpose  for  which  it  was  made. 

The  Indians  set  out  in  a  body  to  the  number 
of  two  hundred  and  fifty  warriors,  with  their  women 
and  children.  The  three  Frenchmen,  who,  though 
in  different  villages,  had  occasionally  met  during 
the  two  months  of  their  captivity,  were  all  of  the 
party.  They  descended  Rum  River,  which  forms 
the  outlet  of  Mille  Lac,  and  which  is  called  the 
St.  Francis,  by  Hennepin.  None  of  the  Indians 
had  offered  to  give  him  passage ;  and,  fearing  lest 
he  should  be  abandoned,  he  stood  on  the  bank, 
hailing  the  passing  canoes  and  begging  to  be  taken 
in.  Accau  and  Du  Gay  presently  appeared,  pad- 
dling a  small  canoe  which  the  Indians  had  given 
them  ;  but  they  would  not  listen  to  the  missionary's 
call,  and  Accau,  who  had  no  love  for  him,  cried 


1680.]  CAMP  -OF  SAVAGES.  245 

out  that  he  had  paddled  him  long  enough  already. 
Two  Indians,  however,  took  pity  on  him,  and  brought 
him  to  the  place  of  encampment,  where  Du  Gay 
tried  to  excuse  himself  for  his  conduct,  but  Accau 
was  sullen  and  kept  aloof. 

After  reaching  the  Mississippi,  the  whole  party 
encamped  together  opposite  to  the  mouth  of  Rum 
River,  pitching  their  tents  of  skin,  or  building  their 
bark  huts,  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  by  the  side  of  the 
water.  It  was  a  wild  scene,  this  camp  of  savages 
among  whom  as  yet  no  traders  had  come  and  no 
handiwork  of  civilization  had  found  its  way ;  the 
tall  warriors,  some  nearly  naked,  some  wrapped  in 
buffalo  robes,  and  some  in  shirts  of  dressed  deer- 
skin fringed  with  hair  and  embroidered  with  dyed 
porcupine  quills,  war-clubs  of  stone  in  their  hands, 
and  quivers  at  their  backs  filled  with  stone-headed 
arrows  ;  the  squaws,  cutting  smoke-dried  meat  with 
knives  of  flint,  and  boiling  it  in  rude  earthen  pots 
of  their  own  making,  driving  away,  meanwhile, 
with  shrill  cries,  the  troops  of  lean  dogs,  who  dis- 
puted the  meal  with  a  crew  of  hungry  children. 
The  whole  camp,  indeed,  was  threatened  with  star- 
vation. The  three  white  men  could  get  no  food  but 
unripe  berries,  from  the  effects  of  which  Hennepin 
thinks  they  might  all  have  died,  but  for  timely 
doses  of  his  orvietan. 

Being  tired  of  the  Indians,  he  became  anxious 

to  set  out  for  the  Wisconsin  to  find  the  party  of 

Frenchmen,  real  or  imaginary,  who  were  to  meet 

him  at  that  place.     That  he  was  permitted  to  do 

so   was  due  to  the  influence  of  the  great  chief 

21* 


246  HENNEPIN  AMONG  THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

Ouasicoude,  who  always  befriended  him,  and  who 
had  soundly  berated  his  two  companions  for  refusing 
him  a  seat  in  then  canoe.  Du  Gay  wished  to  go 
with  him ;  but  Accau,  who  liked  the  Indian  life  as 
much  as  he  disliked  Hennepin,  preferred  to  remain 
with  the  hunters.  A  small  birch  canoe  was  given 
to  the  two  adventurers,  together  with  an  earthen 
pot ;  and  they  had  also  between  them  a  gun,  a  knife, 
and  a  robe  of  beaver-skin.  Thus  equipped,  they 
began  their  journey,  and  soon  approached  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony,  so  named  by  Hennepin  in  honor 
of  the  inevitable  St.  Anthony  of  Padua.1  As  they 
were  carrying  their  canoe  by  the  cataract,  they  saw 
five  or  six  Indians,  who  had  gone  before,  one  of 
whom  had  climbed  into  an  oak-tree  beside  the 
principal  fall,  whence  in  a  loud  and  lamentable 
voice  he  was  haranguing  the  spirit  of  the  waters, 
as  a  sacrifice  to  whom  he  had  just  hung  a  robe  of 
beaver-skin  among  the  branches.2     Their  attention 

1  Hennepin's  notice  of  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony,  though  brief,  is  suffi- 
ciently accurate.  He  says,  in  his  first  edition,  that  they  are  forty  or  fifty 
feet  high,  but  adds  ten  feet  more  in  the  edition  of  1697.  In  1821,  according 
to  Schoolcraft,  the  perpendicular  fall  measured  forty  feet.  Great  changes, 
however,  have  taken  place  here  and  are  still  in  progress.  The  rock  is  a 
very  soft,  friable  sandstone,  overlaid  by  a  stratum  of  limestone ;  and  it  is 
crumbling  with  such  rapidity  under  the  action  of  the  water  that  the  cata- 
ract will  soon  be  little  more  than  a  rapid.  Other  changes  equally  dis- 
astrous, in  an  artistic  point  of  view,  are  going  on  even  more  quickty. 
Beside  the  falls  stands  a  city,  which,  by  an  ingenious  combination  of  the 
Greek  and  Sioux  languages,  has  received  the  name  of  Minneapolis,  or 
City  of  the  Waters,  and  which,  in  1867,  contained  ten  thousand  inhabi- 
tants, two  national  banks,  and  an  opera-house,  while  its  rival  city  of  St. 
Anthony,  immediately  opposite,  boasted  a  gigantic  water-cure  and  a  State 
university.  In  short,  the  great  natural  beauty  of  the  place  is  utterly 
spoiled. 

2  Oanktayhee,  the  principal  deity  of  the  Sioux,  was  supposed  to  live 
under  these  falls,  though  he  manifested  himself  in  the  form  of  a  buffalo. 


1680.]  ADVENTURES.  247 

was  soon  engrossed  by  another  object.  Looking 
over  the  edge  of  the  cliff  which  overhung  the  river 
below  the  falls,  Hennepin  saw  a  snake,  which,  as  he 
avers,  was  six  feet  long,1  writhing  upward  towards 
the  holes  of  the  swallows  in  the  face  of  the  preci- 
pice, in  order  to  devour  their  young.  He  pointed 
him  out  to  Du  Gay,  and  they  pelted  him  with  stones, 
till  he  fell  into  the  river,  but  not  before  his  contor- 
tions and  the  darting  of  his  forked  tongue  had  so 
affected  the  Picard's  imagination  that  he  was  haunted 
that  night  with  a  terrific  incubus. 

They  paddled  sixty  leagues  down  the  river  in  the 
heats  of  July,  and  killed  no  large  game  but  a  single 
deer,  the  meat  of  which  soon  spoiled.  Their  main 
resource  was  the  turtles,  whose  shyness  and  watch- 
fulness caused  them  frequent  disappointments,  and 
many  involuntary  fasts.  They  once  captured  one 
of  more  than  common  size ;  and.  as  they  were 
endeavoring  to  cut  off  his  head,  he  was  near  aven- 
ging himself  by  snapping  off  Hennepin's  finger. 
There  was  a  herd  of  buffalo  in  sight  on  the  neigh- 
boring prairie ;  and  Du  Gay  went  with  his  gun  in 
pursuit  of  them,  leaving  the  turtle  in  Hennepin's 
custody.  Scarcely  was  he  gone  when  the  friar, 
raising  his  eyes,  saw  that  their  canoe,  which  they 
had  left  at  the  edge  of  the  water,  had  floated  out 

It  was  he  who  createa  the  earth,  like  the  Algonquin  Manabozho,  from 
mud  brought  to  him  in  the  paws  of  a  musk-rat.  Carver,  in  1766,  saw  an 
Indian  throw  every  thing  he  had  about  him  into  the  cataract  as  an  offer- 
ing to  this  deity. 

1  In  the  edition  of  1683.  In  that  of  16U7  he  has  grown  to  seven  or 
eight  feet.  The  bank-swallows  still  make  their  nests  in  these  cliffs, 
boring  easily  into  the  soft  incohesive  sandstone. 


248  HENNEPIN  AMONG  THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

into  the  current,  Hastily  turning  the  turtle  on  his 
back,  he  covered  him  with  his  habit  of  St.  Francis, 
on  which,  for  greater  security,  he  laid  a  number  of 
stones,  and  then,  being  a  good  swimmer,  struck  out 
in  pursuit  of  the  canoe,  which  he  at  length  over- 
took. Finding  that  it  would  overset  if  he  tried 
to  climb  into  it,  he  pushed  it  before  him  to  the 
shore,  and  then  paddled  towards  the  place,  at  some 
distance  above,  where  he  had  left  the  turtle.  He 
had  no  sooner  reached  it  than  he  heard  a  strange 
sound,  and  beheld  a  long  file  of  buffalo,  —  bulls, 
cows,  and  calves,  —  entering  the  water  not  far  off.  to 
cross  to  the  western  bank.  Having  no  gun.  as 
became  his  apostolic  vocation,  he  shouted  to  Du 
Gay,  who  presently  appeared,  running  in  all  haste ; 
and  they  both  paddled  in  pursuit  of  the  game.  Du 
Gay  aimed  at  a  young  cow,  and  shot  her  in  the  head. 
She  fell  in  shallow  water  near  an  island,  where  some 
of  the  herd  had  landed ;  and,  being  unable  to  drag 
her  out,  they  waded  into  the  water  and  butchered 
her  where  she  lay.  It  was  forty-eight  hours  since 
they  had  tasted  food.  Hennepin  made  a  fire,  while 
Du  Gay  cut  up  the  meat.  They  feasted  so  bounti- 
fully that  they  both  fell  ill,  and  were  forced  to  remain 
two  days  on  the  island,  taking  doses  of  orvietan, 
before  they  were  able  to  resume  their  journey. 

Apparently  they  were  not  sufficiently  versed  in 
woodcraft  to  smoke  the  meat  of  the*  cow ;  and  the 
hot  sun  soon  robbed  them  of  it.  They  had  a  few 
fish-hooks,  but  were  not  always  successful  in  the 
use  of  them.  On  one  occasion,  being  nearly 
famished,  they  set  their  line,  and  lay  watching  it, 


1680.]  THE   UPPER  MISSISSIPPI.  249 

uttering  prayers  in  turn.  Suddenly,  there  was  a 
great  turmoil  in  the  water.  Du  Gay  ran  to  the  line, 
and,  with  the  help  of  Hennepin,  drew  in  two  large 
cat-fish.1  The  eagles,  or  fish-hawks,  now  and  then 
dropped  a  newly  caught  fish,  of  which  they  gladly 
took  possession  ;  and  once  they  found  a  purveyor  in 
an  otter  which  they  saw  by  the  bank,  devouring 
some  object  of  an  appearance  so  wonderful  that  Du 
Gay  cried  out  that  he  had  a  devil  between  his  paws. 
They  scared  him  from  his  prey,  which  proved  to  be 
a  spade-fish,  or,  as  Hennepin  correctly  describes  it, 
a  species  of  sturgeon,  with  a  bony  projection  from 
his  snout  in  the  shape  of  a  paddle.  They  broke 
their  fast  upon  him,  undeterred  by  this  eccentric 
appendage. 

If  Hennepin  had  had  an  eye  for  scenery,  he 
would  have  found  in  these  his  vagabond  rovings 
wherewith  to  console  himself  in  some  measure  for 
his  frequent  fasts.  The  young  Mississippi,  fresh 
from  its  northern  springs,  unstained  as  yet  by  unhal- 
lowed union  with  the  riotous  Missouri,  flowed  calmly 
on  its  way  amid  strange  and  unique  beauties ;  a 
wilderness,  clothed  with  velvet  grass  ;  forest- 
shadowed  valleys ;  lofty  heights,  whose  smooth 
slopes  seemed  levelled  with  the  scythe  ;  domes  and 
pinnacles,  ramparts  and  ruined  towers,  the  work  of 
no  human  hand.  The  canoe  of  the  voyagers,  borne 
on  the  tranquil  current,  glided  in  the  shade  of  gray 
crags  festooned  with  blossoming  honeysuckles  ;  by 

1  Hennepin  speaks  of  their  size  with  astonishment,  and  says  that  the 
two  together  would  weigh  twenty-five  pounds.  Cat-fish  have  been  taken 
in  the  Mississippi  weighing  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 


250  HENNEPIN   AMONG   THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

trees  mantled  with  wild  grape-vines,  dells  bright 
with  the  flowers  of  the  white  euphorbia,  the  blue 
gentian,  and  the  purple  balm ;  and  matted  forests, 
where  the  red  squirrels  leaped  and  chattered.  They 
passed  the  great  cliff  whence  the  Indian  maiden 
threw  herself  in  her  despair ; 1  and  Lake  Pepin  lay 
before  them,  slumbering  in  the  July  sun ;  the  far- 
reaching  sheets  of  sparkling  water,  the  woody  slopes. 
the  tower-like  crags,  the  grassy  heights  basking  in 
sunlight  or  shadowed  by  the  passing  cloud ;  all  the 
fair  outline  of  its  graceful  scenery,  the  finished  and 
polished  masterwork  of  Nature.  And  when  at  even- 
ing they  made  their  bivouac  fire,  and  drew  up  their 
canoe,  while  dim,  sultry  clouds  veiled  the  west,  and 
the  flashes  of  the  silent  heat-lightning  gleamed  on 
the  leaden  water,  they  could  listen,  as  they  smoked 
their  pipes,  to  the  strange,  mournful  cry  of  the  whip- 
poorwills,  and  the  quavering  scream  of  the  owls. 

Other  thoughts  than  the  study  of  the  picturesque 
occupied  the  mind  of  Hennepin,  when  one  day  he 
saw  his  Indian  father,  Aquipaguetin,  whom  he  had 
supposed  five  hundred  miles  distant,  descending  the 
river  with  ten  warriors  in  canoes.  He  was  eager  to 
be  the  first  to  meet  the  traders,  who,  as  Hennepin 
had  given  out,  were  to  come  with  their  goods  to  the 
mouth  of  the  Wisconsin.  The  two  travellers  trem- 
bled for  the  consequences  of  this  encounter ;  but 
the  chief,  after  a  short  colloquy,  passed  on  his  way. 

1  The  "  Lover's  Leap,"  or  "  Maiden's  Rock,"  from  which  a  Sioux  girl, 
Winona,  or  the  "  Eldest  Born,"  is  said  to  have  thrown  herself  in.  the 
despair  of  disappointed  affection.  The  story,  which  seems  founded  in 
truth,  will  be  found,  not  without  embellishments,  in  Mrs.  Eastman's 
Legends  of  the  Sioux. 


1680.]  HE  REJOINS   THE  INDIANS.  251 

In  three  days  he  returned  in  ill-humor,  having  found 
no  traders  at  the  appointed  spot.  The  Picard  was 
absent  at  the  time,  looking  for  game,  and  Hennepin 
was  sitting  under  the  shade  of  his  blanket,  which  he 
had  stretched  on  forked  sticks  to  protect  him  from 
the  sun,  when  he  saw  his  adopted  father  approach- 
ing with  a  threatening  look  and  a  war-club  in  his 
hand.  He  attempted  no  violence,  however,  but  suf- 
fered his  wrath  to  exhale  in  a  severe  scolding,  after 
which  he  resumed  his  course  up  the  river  with  his 
warriors. 

If  Hennepin,  as  he  avers,  really  expected  a  party 
of  traders  at  the  Wisconsin,  the  course  he  now  took 
is  sufficiently  explicable.  If  he  did  not  expect  them, 
his  obvious  course  was  to  rejoin  Tonty  on  the  Illi- 
nois, for  which  he  seems  to  have  had  no  inclination  ; 
or  to  return  to  Canada  by  way  of  the  Wisconsin,  an 
attempt  which  involved  the  risk  of  starvation,  as  the 
two  travellers  had  but  ten  charges  of  powder  left. 
Assuming,  then,  his  hope  of  the  traders  to  have  been 
real,  he  and  Du  Gay  resolved,  in  the  mean  time,  to 
join  a  large  body  of  Sioux  hunters,  who,  as  Aquipa- 
guetin  had  told  them,  were  on  a  stream  which  he 
calls  Bull  River,  now  the  Chippeway,  entering  the 
Mississippi  near  Lake  Pepin.  By  so  doing,  they 
would  gain  a  supply  of  food,  and  save  themselves 
from  the  danger  of  encountering  parties  of  roving 
warriors. 

They  found  this  band,  among  whom  was  their 
companion  Accau,  and  followed  them  on  a  grand 
hunt  along  the  borders  of  the  Mississippi.  Du  Gay 
was  separated  for  a  time  from  Hennepin,  who  was 


252  HENNEPIN  AMONG  THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

placed  in  a  canoe  with  a  withered  squaw  more  than 
eighty  years  old.  In  spite  of  her  age,  she  handled 
her  paddle  with  admirable  address,  and  used  it  vigor- 
ously, as  occasion  required,  to  repress  the  gambols 
of  three  children,  who,  to  Hennepin's  great  annoy- 
ance, occupied  the  middle  of  the  canoe.  The  hunt 
was  successful.  The  Sioux  warriors,  active  as  deer, 
chased  the  buffalo  on  foot  with  their  stone-headed 
arrows,  on  the  plains  behind  the  heights  that  bor- 
dered the  river ;  while  the  old  men  stood  sentinels 
at  the  top,  watching  for  the  approach  of  enemies. 
One  day  an  alarm  was  given.  The  warriors  rushed 
towards  the  supposed  point  of  danger,  but  found 
nothing  more  formidable  than  two  squaws  of  their 
own  nation,  who  brought  strange  news.  A  war- 
party  of  Sioux,  they  said,  had  gone  towards  Lake 
Superior,  and  met  by  the  way  five  "  Spirits  ;  "  that  is 
to  say,  five  Europeans.  Hennepin  was  full  of  curi- 
osity to  learn  who  the  strangers  might  be  ;  and  they. 
on  their  part,  were  said  to  have  shown  great  anxiety 
to  know  the  nationality  of  the  three  white  men  who, 
as  they  were  told,  were  on  the  river.  The  hunt  was 
over ;  and  the  hunters,  with  Hennepin  and  his  com- 
panion, were  on  their  way  northward  to  their 
towns,  when  they  met  the  five  "  Spirits  "  at  some  dis- 
tance below  the  Falls  of  St.  Anthony.  They  proved 
to  be  Daniel  Greysolon  du  Lhut,  with  four  well- 
armed  Frenchmen. 

This  bold  and  enterprising  man,  stigmatized  by 
the  Intendant  Duchesneau  as  a  leader  of  coureurs 
de  bois,  was  a  cousin  of  Tonty,  born  at  Lyons  He 
belonged  to  that  caste  of  the  lesser  nobles,  whose 


1680.]  DU   LHUT'S  EXPLORATIONS.  253 

name  was  legion,  and  whose  admirable  military 
qualities  shone  forth  so  conspicuously  in  the  wars 
of  Louis  XIV.  Though  his  enterprises  were  inde- 
pendent of  those  of  La  Salle,  they  were,  at  this 
time,  carried  on  in  connection  with  Count  Frontenac 
and  certain  merchants  in  his  interest,  of  whom  Du 
Lhut's  uncle,  Patron,  was  one ;  while  Louvigny,  his 
brother-in-law,  was  in  alliance  with  the  Governor, 
and  was  an  officer  of  his  guard.  Here,  then,  was  a 
kind  of  family  league,  countenanced  by  Frontenac, 
and  acting  conjointly  with  him,  in  order,  if  the  angry 
letters  of  the  Intendant  are  to  be  believed,  to  reap 
a  clandestine  profit  under  the  shadow  of  the  Gover- 
nor's authority,  and  in  violation  of  the  royal  ordi- 
nances. The  rudest  part  of  the  work  fell  to  the 
share  of  Du  Lhut,  who,  with  a  persistent  hardi- 
hood, not  surpassed,  perhaps,  even  by  La  Salle,  was 
continually  in  the  forest,  in  the  Indian  towns,  or 
in  remote  wilderness  outposts  planted  by  himself, 
exploring,  trading,  fighting,  ruling  lawless  savages, 
and  whites  scarcely  less  ungovernable,  and,  on  one 
or  more  occasions,  varying  his  life  by  crossing  the 
ocean,  to  gain  interviews  with  the  colonial  minister, 
Seignelay,  amid  the  splendid  vanities  of  Versailles. 
Strange  to  say,  this  man  of  hardy  enterprise  was  a 
martyr  to  the  gout,  which,  for  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  century,  grievously  tormented  him  ;  though 
for  a  time  he  thought  himself  cured  by  the  interces- 
sion of  the  Iroquois  saint,  Catharine  Tegahkouita,  to 
whom  he  had  made  a  vow  to  that  end.  He  was, 
without  doubt,  an  habitual  breaker  of  the  royal 

ordinances  regulating  the  fur-trade  ;  yet  his  services 

22 


254  HENNEPIN  AMONG   THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

were  great  to  the  colony  and  to  the  crown,  and  his 
name  deserves  a  place  of  honor  among  the  pioneers 
of  American  civilization.1 


1  The  facts  concerning  Du  Lhut  have  been  gleaned  from  a  variety  of 
contemporary  documents,  chiefly  the  letters  of  his  enemy,  Duchesneau, 
who  always  puts  him  in  the  worst  light,  especially  in  his  despatch  to 
Seignelay  of  10  Nov.  1679,  where  he  charges  both  him  and  the  Governor 
with  carrying  on  an  illicit  trade  with  the  English  of  New  York,  an  ex- 
ample, which,  if  followed,  would  ruin  the  colony  by  diverting  the  sources 
of  its  support  to  its  rival.  Du  Lhut  built  a  trading  fort  on  Lake  Superior, 
called  Cananistigoyan  (La  Hontan),  or  Kamalastigouia  (Perrot).  It  was 
on  the  north  side,  at  the  mouth  of  a  river  entering  Thunder  Bay,  where 
Fort  William  now  stands.  In  1684,  he  caused  two  Indians,  who  had  mur- 
dered several  Frenchmen  on  Lake  Superior,  to  be  shot.  He  displayed 
in  this  affair  great  courage  and  coolness,  undaunted  by  the  crowd  of 
excited  savages  who  surrounded  him  and  his  little  band  of  Frenchmen. 
The  long  letter,  in  which  he  recounts  the  capture  and  execution  of  the 
murderers,  is  before  me.  Duchesneau  makes  his  conduct  on  this  occa- 
sion the  ground  of  a  charge  of  rashness.  In  1686,  Denonville,  then  Gov- 
ernor of  the  colony,  ordered  him  to  fortify  the  Detroit ;  that  is,  the  strait 
between  Lakes  Erie  and  Huron.  He  went  thither  with  fifty  men  and 
built  a  palisade  fort,  which  he  occupied  for  some  time.  In  1687,  he, 
together  with  Tonty  and  Durantaye,  joined  Denonville  against  the  Sen- 
ecas,  with  a  body  of  Indians  from  the  Upper  Lakes.  In  1689,  during  the 
panic  that  followed  the  Iroquois  invasion  of  Montreal,  Du  Lhut,  with 
twenty-eight  Canadians,  attacked  twenty-two  Iroquois  in  eanoes,  received 
their  fire  without  returning  it,  bore  down  upon  them,  killed  eighteen  of 
them,  and  captured  three,  only  one  escaping.  In  1695,  he  was  in  com- 
mand at  Fort  Frontenac.  In  1697,  he  succeeded  to  the  command  of  a 
company  of  infantry,  but  was  suffering  wretchedly  from  the  gout  at  Fort 
Frontenac.  In  1710,Vaudreuil,  in  a  despatch  to  the  minister,  Ponchartrain, 
announced  his  death  as  occurring  in  the  previous  winter,  and  added  the 
brief  comment,  "  c'etait  un  tres-honnete  homme."  Other  contemporaries 
speak  to  the  same  effect.  "  Mr  Dulhut,  Gentilhomme  Lionnois,  qui  a 
beaucoup  de  merite  et  de  capacite." — La  Hontan,  i.  103  (1703).  "  Le 
Sieur  du  Lut,  homme  d'esprit  et  d'experience."  —  Le  Clercq,  ii.  137. 
Charlevoix  calls  him  "  one  of  the  bravest  officers  the  King  has  ever  had 
in  tliis  colony."  His  name  is  variously  spelled  Du  Luc,  Du  Lud,  Du 
Lude,  Du  Lut,  Du  Luth,  Du  Lhut.  For  an  account  of  the  Iroquois 
virgin,  Tegahkouita,  Whose  intercession  is  said  to  have  cured  him  of  the 
gout,  see  Charlevoix,  i.  572. 

On  a  contemporary  manuscript  map  by  the  Jesuit  Raffeix,  represent- 
ing the  routes  of  Marquette,  La  Salle,  and  Du  Lhut,  are  the  following 
words,  referring  to  the  last-named  discoverer,  and  interesting  in  connec- 
tion with  Hennepin's  statements  :  "Mr  du  Lude  le  premier  a  este-  chez  les 


1680.]  DU  LHUT'S  EXPLORATIONS.  255 

When  Hennepin  met  him,  he  had  been  about 
two  years  in  the  wilderness.  In  September,  1678, 
he  left  Quebec  for  the  purpose  of  exploring  the 
region  of  the  Upper  Mississippi,  and  establishing 
relations  of  friendship  with  the  Sioux  and  their 
kindred,  the  Assiniboins.  In  the  summer  of  1679, 
he  visited  three  large  towns  of  the  eastern  division 
of  the  Sioux,  including  those  visited  by  Hennepin 
in  the  following  year,  and  planted  the  king's  arms  in 
all  of  them.  Early  in  the  autumn,  he  was  at  the 
head  of  Lake  Superior,  holding  a  council  with 
the  Assiniboins  and  the  lake  tribes,  and  inducing 
them  to  live  at  peace  with  the  Sioux.  In  all  this, 
he  acted  in  a  public  capacity,  under  the  authority 
of  the  Governor ;  but  it  is  not  to  be  supposed  that 
he  forgot  his  own  interests  or  those  of  his  asso- 
ciates. The  Intendant  angrily  complains  that  he 
aided  and  abetted  the  coureurs  de  bois  in  their  law- 
less courses,  and  sent  down  in  their  canoes  great 
quantities  of  beaver-skins  consigned  to  the  mer- 
chants in  league  with  him,  under  cover  of  whose 
names  the  Governor  reaped  his  share  of  the  profits. 

In  June,  1680,  while  Hennepin  was  in  the  Sioux 
villages,  Du  Lhut  set  out  from  the  head  of  Lake 
Superior  with  two  canoes,  four  Frenchmen,  and 
an  Indian,  to  continue  his  explorations.1  He  as- 
cended a  river,  apparently  the  Burnt  Wood,  and 
reached  from  thence  a  branch  of  the  Mississippi 

Sioux  en  1678,  et  a  este"  proche  la  source  du  Mississippi,  et  ensuite  vint 
retirer  le  P.  Louis  (Hennepin)  qui  avoit  este  fait  prisonnier  chez  les  Sioux." 
Du  Lhut  here  appears  as  the  deliverer  of  Hennepin. 

1  Abstracts  of  letters  in  Memoir  on  the  French  Dominion  in  Canada,  N.  Y. 
Col.  Docs.,  ix.  781. 


256  HENNEPIN  AMONG  THE   SIOUX.  [1680. 

which  seems  to  have  been  the  St.  Croix.  It  was 
now  that,  to  his  surprise,  he  learned  that  there 
were  three  Europeans  on  the  main  river  below ; 
and,  fearing  that  they  might  be  Englishmen  or 
Spaniards,  encroaching  on  the  territories  of  the 
king,  he  eagerly  pressed  forward  to  solve  his 
doubts.  When  he  saw  Hennepin,  his  mind  was 
set  at  rest ;  and  the  travellers  met  with  a  mutual 
cordiality.  They  followed  the  Indians  to  their 
villages  of  Mille  Lac,  where  Hennepin  had  now 
no  reason  to  complain  of  their  treatment  of  him. 
The  Sioux  gave  him  and  Du  Lhut  a  grand  feast 
of  honor,  at  which  were  seated  a  hundred  and 
twenty  naked  guests  ;  and  the  great  chief  Ouasi- 
coude,  with  his  own  hands,  placed  before  Hennepin 
a  bark  dish  containing  a  mess  of  smoked  meat  and 
wild  rice. 

xlutumn  had  come,  and  the  travellers  bethought 
them  of  going  home.  The  Sioux,  consoled  by  their 
promises  to  return  with  goods  for  trade,  did  not 
oppose  their  departure  ;  and  they  set  out  together, 
eight  white  men  in  all.  As  they  passed  St.  Antho- 
ny's Falls,  two  of  the  men  stole  two  buffalo  robes 
which  were  hung  on  trees  as  offerings  to  the  spirit 
of  the  cataract.  When  Du  Lhut  heard  of  it,  he 
was  very  angry,  telling  the  men  that  they  had 
endangered  the  lives  of  the  whole  party.  Henne- 
pin admitted  that,  in  the  view  of  human  prudence, 
he  was  right,  but  urged  that  the  act  was  good  and 
praiseworthy,  inasmuch  as  the  offerings  were  made 
to  a  false  god  ;  while  the  men,  on  their  part,  proved 
mutinous,  declaring  that  they  wanted  the  robes  and 


1G80.]  HENNEPIN  AND  THE  JESUITS.  257 

meant  to  keep  them.  The  travellers  continued 
their  journey  in  great  ill  humor,  but  were  pres- 
ently soothed  by  the  excellent  hunting  which  they 
found  on  the  way.  As  they  approached  the  Wis- 
consin, they  stopped  to  dry  the  meat  of  the  buffalo 
they  had  killed,  when  to  their  amazement  they  saw 
a  war-party  of  Sioux  approaching  in  a  fleet  of 
canoes.  Hennepin  represents  himself  as  showing 
on  this  occasion  an  extraordinary  courage,  going 
to  meet  the  Indians  with  a  peace-pipe,  and  instruct- 
ing Du  Lhut,  who  knew  more  of  these  matters 
than  he,  how  it  behooved  him  to  conduct  himself. 
The  Sioux  proved  not  unfriendly,  and  said  nothing 
of  the  theft  of  the  buffalo  robes.  They  soon  went 
on  their  way  to  attack  the  Illinois  and  Missouris, 
leaving  the  Frenchmen  to  ascend  the  Wisconsin 
unmolested. 

After  various  adventures,  they  reached  the  station 
of  the  Jesuits  at  Green  Bay  ;  but  its  existence 
is  wholly  ignored  by  Hennepin,  whose  zeal  for  his 
own  order  will  not  permit  him  to  allude  to  this 
establishment  of  the  rival  missionaries.1  He  is 
equally  reticent  with  regard  to  the  Jesuit  mission  at 
Michillimackinac,  where  the  party  soon  after  arrived, 
and  where  they  spent  the  winter.  The  only  intima- 
tion which  he  gives  of  its  existence  consists  in  the 
mention  of  the  Jesuit  Pierson,  who  was  a  Fleming 
like  himself,  and  who  often  skated  with  him  on  the 
frozen  lake,  or  kept  him  company  in  fishing  through 

1  On  the  other  hand,  he  sets  down  on  his  map  of  1683  a  mission  of 
the  Re'collets  at  a  point  north  of  the  farthest  sources  of  the  Mississippi,  to 
which  no  white  man  had  ever  penetrated. 

22* 


258  HENNEPIN  AMONG   THE   SIOUX.  [1681. 

a  hole  in  the  ice.1  When  the  spring  opened,  Hen- 
nepin descended  Lake  Huron,  followed  the  Detroit 
to  Lake  Erie,  and  proceeded  thence  to  Niagara. 
Here  he  spent  some  time  in  making  a  fresh  exami- 
nation of  the  cataract,  and  then  resumed  his  voyage 
on  Lake  Ontario.  He  stopped,  however,  at  the 
great  town  of  the  Senecas,  near  the  Genessee,  where, 
with  his  usual  spirit  of  meddling,  he  took  upon  him 
the  functions  of  the  civil  and  military  authorities, 
convoked  the  chiefs  to  a  council,  and  urged  them  to 
set  at  liberty  certain  Ottawa  prisoners  whom  they 
had  captured  in  violation  of  treaties.  Having  settled 
this  affair  to  his  satisfaction,  he  went  to  Fort  Fron- 
tenac,  where  his  brother  missionary,  Buisset,  re- 
ceived him  with  a  welcome  rendered  the  warmer  by 
a  story  which  had  reached  him,  that  the  Indians  had 
hanged  Hennepin  with  his  own  cord  of  St.  Francis. 
From  Fort  Frontenac  he  went  to  Montreal ;  and 
leaving  his  two  men  on  a  neighboring  island,  that 
they  might  escape  the  payment  of  duties  on  a  quan- 
tity of  furs  which  they  had  with  them,  he  paddled 
alone  towards  the  town.  Count  Frontenac  chanced 
to  be  here  ;  and,  looking  from  the  window  of  a  house 
near  the  river,  he  saw,  approaching  in  a  canoe,  a 
Recollet  father,  whose  appearance  indicated  the  ex- 
tremity of  hard  service  ;  for  his  face  was  worn  and 
sunburnt,  and  his  tattered  habit  of  St.  Francis  was 
abundantly  patched   with  scraps    of  buffalo   skin. 


1  He  says  that  Pierson  had  come  among  the  Indians  to  learn  their  lan- 
guage ;  that  he  "  retained  the  frankness  and  rectitude  of  our  country," 
and  "  a  disposition  always  on  the  side  of  candor  and  sincerity.  In  a  word, 
he  seemed  to  me  to  he  all  that  a  Christian  ought  to  be  "  (1697),  433. 


1681.]  HENNEPIN  AND  FRONTENAC.  259 

When  at  length  he  recognized  the  long-lost  Henne- 
pin, he  received  him,  as  the  father  writes,  "  with  all 
the  tenderness  which  a  missionary  could  expect  from 
a  person  of  his  rank  and  quality."  1  He  kept  him 
for  twelve  days  in  his  own  house,  and  listened  with 
interest  to  such  of  his  adventures  as  the  friar  saw 
fit  to  divulge. 

And  here  we  bid  farewell  to  Father  Hennepin. 
"  Providence,"  he  writes,  "  preserved  my  life  that  I 
might  make  known  my  great  discoveries  to  the 
world."  He  soon  after  went  to  Europe,  where  the 
story  of  his  travels  found  a  host  of  readers,  but 
where  he  died  at  last  in  a  deserved  obscurity.2 

1  (1697),  471. 

2  More  than  twenty  editions  of  Hennepin's  travels  appeared,  in  French, 
English,  Dutch,  German,  Italian,  and  Spanish.  Most  of  them  include  the 
mendacious  narrative  of  the  pretended  descent  of  the  Mississippi.  For  a 
list  of  them,  see  Hist.  Mag.,  i.  346  ;  ii.  24. 

The  following  is  from  a  letter  of  La  Salle,  dated  at  Fort  Frontenac, 
22  Aug.  1681.  This,  with  one  or  two  other  passages  of  his  letters,  shows 
that  he  understood  the  friar's  character,  though  he  could  scarcely  have 
foreseen  his  scandalous  attempts  to  defame  him  and  rob  him  of  his  just 
honors.  "  J'ai  cru  qu'il  etoit  a  propos  de  vous  faire  le  narre  des  aventures 
de  ce  canot  (du  Picard  et  d'Accau)  parce  que  je  ne  doute  pas  qu'on  n'en 
parle ;  et  si  vous  souhaitez  en  confe'rer  avec  le  P.  Louis  Hempin  (sic) 
Recollect  qui  est  repasse'  en  France,  il  faut  un  peu  le  connaitre,  car  il  ne 
manquera  pas  d'exagerer  toutes  choses,  c'est  son  caractere,  et  h  moy 
mesme  il  m'a  ccrit  comme  s'il  eust  este  tout  pres  d'estre  brule,  quoiqu'il 
n'en  ait  pas  este  seulement  en  danger ;  mais  il  croit  qu'il  lui  est  honorable 
de  le  faire  de  la  sorte,  et  il  parle  plus  conforme'ment  a  ce  qu'il  veut  qu'a  ce 
qu'il  fait."     I  am  indebted  for  the  above  to  M.  Margry. 

In  1699,  Hennepin  wished  to  return  to  Canada  ;  but,  in  a  letter  of  that 
year,  Louis  XIV.  orders  the  Governor  to  seize  him,  should  he  appear,  and 
6end  him  prisoner  to  Rochefort.  This  seems  to  have  been  in  consequence 
of  his  renouncing  the  service  of  the  French  crown  and  dedicating  his  edi- 
tion of  1697  to  William  III.  of  England. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

1681. 
LA  SALLE  BEGINS  ANEW. 

His  Constancy.  —  His  Plans.  —  His  Savage  Allies.  —  He  becomes 
Snow-blind.  — Negotiations.  —  Grand  Council.  — La  Salle's  Ora- 
tory. —  Meeting  with  Tonty.  —  Preparation.  —  Departure. 

In  tracing  the  adventures  of  Tonty  and  the  rov- 
ings  of  Hennepin,  we  have  lost  sight  of  La  Salle, 
the  pivot  of  the  enterprise.  Returning  from  the 
desolation  and  horror  in  the  valley  of  the  Illinois, 
he  had  spent  the  winter  at  Fort  Miami,  on  the  St. 
Joseph,  by  the  borders  of  Lake  Michigan.  Here  he 
might  have  brooded  on  the  redoubled  ruin  that  had 
befallen  him :  the  desponding  friends,  the  exulting 
foes  ;  the  wasted  energies,  the  crushing  load  of  debt, 
the  stormy  past,  the  black  and  lowering  future. 
But  his  mind  was  of  a  different  temper.  He  had 
no  thought  but  to  grapple  with  adversity,  and  out  of 
the  fragments  of  his  ruin  to  rear  the  fabric  of  a 
triumphant  success. 

He  would  not  recoil  ;  but  he  modified  his  plans 
to  meet  the  new  contingency.  His  white  enemies 
had  found,  or  rather  perhaps  had  made,  a  savage 
ally   in   the   Iroquois.     Their  incursions  must  be 


1681  j  INDIAN  FRIENDS.  261 

stopped,  or  his  enterprise  would  come  to  nought ; 
and  he  thought  he  saw  the  means  by  which  this 
new  danger  could  be  converted  into  a  source  of 
strength.  The  tribes  of  the  West,  threatened  by  the 
common  enemy,  might  be  taught  to  forget  their  mu- 
tual animosities,  and  join  in  a  defensive  league,  with 
La  Salle  at  its  head.  They  might  be  colonized 
around  his  fort  in  the  valley  of  the  Illinois,  where, 
in  the  shadow  of  the  French  flag,  and  with  the  aid 
of  French  allies,  they  could  hold  the  Iroquois  in 
check,  and  acquire,  in  some  measure,  the  arts  of 
a  settled  life.  The  Franciscan  friars  could  teach 
them  the  faith  ;  and  La  Salle  and  his  associates  could 
supply  them  with  goods,  in  exchange  for  the  vast 
harvest  of  furs  which  their  hunters  could  gather  in 
these  boundless  wilds.  Meanwhile,  he  would  seek 
out  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi ;  and  the  furs 
gathered  at  his  colony  in  the  Illinois  would  then 
find  a  ready  passage  to  the  markets  of  the  world. 
Thus  might  this  ancient  slaughter-field  of  warring 
savages  be  redeemed  to  civilization  and  Christianity  ; 
and  a  stable  settlement,  half-feudal,  half-commercial, 
grow  up  in  the  heart  of  the  western  wilderness. 
The  scheme  was  but  a  new  feature,  the  result  of 
new  circumstances,  added  to  the  original  plan  of  his 
great  enterprise ;  and  he  addressed  himself  to  its 
execution  with  his  usual  vigor,  and  with  an  address 
which  never  failed  him  in  his  dealings  with  Indians. 
There  were  allies  close  at  hand.  Near  Fort 
Miami  were  the  huts  of  twenty-five  or  thirty 
savages,  exiles  from  their  homes,  and  strangers  in 
this  western  world.     Several  of  the  English  colonies, 


262  LA  SALLE  BEGINS   ANEW.  p681. 

• 

from  Virginia  to  Maine,  had  of  late  years  been  har- 
assed by  Indian  wars  ;  and  the  Puritans  of  New  Eng- 
land, above  all,  had  been  scourged  by  the  deadly 
outbreak  of  King  Philip's  war.  Those  engaged  in 
it  had  paid  a  bitter  price  for  their  brief  triumphs. 
A  band  of  refugees,  chiefly  Abenakis  andMohegans, 
driven  from  their  native  seats,  had  roamed  into  these 
distant  wilds,  and  were'  wintering  in  the  friendly 
neighborhood  of  the  French.  La  Salle  soon  won 
them  over  to  his  interests.  One  of  then  number 
was  the  Mohegan  hunter,  who,  for  two  years,  had 
faithfully  followed  his  fortunes,  and  who  had  been 
for  four  years  in  the  West.  He  is  described  as  a 
prudent  and  discreet  young  man,  in  whom  La  Salle 
had  great  confidence,  and  who  could  make  himself 
understood  in  several  western  languages,  belonging, 
like  his  own,  to  the  great  Algonquin  tongue.  This 
devoted  henchman  proved  an  efficient  mediator  with 
his  countrymen.  The  New-England  Indians,  with 
one  voice,  promised  to  follow  La  Salle,  asking 
no  recompense  but  to  call  him  their  chief,  and 
yield  to  him  the  love  and  admiration  which  he 
rarely  failed  to  command  from  this  hero-worship- 
ping race. 

New  allies  soon  appeared.  A  Shawanoe  chief 
from  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  whose  following 
embraced  a  hundred  and  fifty  warriors,  came  to 
ask  the  protection  of  the  French  against  the  all- 
destroying  Iroquois.  "  The  Shawanoes  are  too 
distant,"  was  La  Salle's  reply  ;  "  but  let  them  come 
to  me  at  the  Illinois,  and  they  shall  be  safe."  The 
chief  promised  to  join  him  in  the  autumn  at  Fort 


1681.1  LA   SALLE   SNOW-BLIND.  263 

Miami,  with  all  his  band.  But,  more  important 
than  all,  the  consent  and  co-operation  of  the  Illi- 
nois must  be  gained ;  and  the  Miamis,  their  neigh- 
bors, and  of  late  their  enemies,  must  be  taught 
the  folly  of  their  league  Avith  the  Iroquois,  and 
the  necessity  of  joining  in  the  new  confederation. 
Of  late,  they  had  been  made  to  see  the  perfidy  of 
their  dangerous  allies.  A  band  of  the  Iroquois, 
returning  from  the  slaughter  of  the  Tamaroa 
Illinois,  had  met  and  murdered  a  band  of  Miamis 
on  the  Ohio,  and  had  not  only  refused  satisfac- 
tion, but  entrenched  themselves  in  three  rude  forts 
of  trees  and  brushwood  in  the  heart  of  the  Miami 
country.  The  moment  was  favorable  for  negotiat- 
ing ;  but,  first,  La  Salle  wished  to  open  a  com- 
munication with  the  Illinois,  some  of  whom  had 
begun  to  return  to  the  country  they  had  abandoned. 
With  this  view,  and  also,  it  seems,  to  procure  pro- 
visions, he  set  out  on  the  first  of  March,  with  his 
lieutenant,  La  Forest,  and  nineteen  men. 

The  country  was  sheeted  in  snow,  and  the  party 
journeyed  on  snow-shoes  ;  but  when  they  reached 
the  open  prairies,  the  white  expanse  glared  in  the 
sun  with  so  dazzling  a  brightness  that  La  Salle 
and  several  of  the  men  became  snow-blind.  They 
stopped  and  encamped  under  the  edge  of  a  forest ; 
and  here  La  Salle  remained  in  darkness  for  three 
days,  suffering  extreme  pain.  Meanwhile,  he  sent 
forward  La  Forest,  and  most  of  the  men,  keeping 
with  him  his  old  attendant  Hunaut.  Going  out  in 
quest  of  pine-leaves,  a  decoction  of  which  was 
supposed  to  be  useful  in  cases  of  snow-blindness, 


264  LA   SALLE  BEGINS  ANEW.  [1681. 

this  man  discovered  the  fresh  tracks  of  Indians, 
followed  them,  and  found  a  camp  of  Outagamies, 
or  Foxes,  from  the  neighborhood  of  Green  Bay. 
From  them  he  heard  welcome  news.  They  told 
him  that  Tonty  was  safe  among  the  Pottawatta- 
mies,  and  that  Hennepin  had  passed  through  their 
country  on  his  return  from  among  the  Sioux.1 

A  thaw  took  place ;  the  snow  melted  rapidly ; 
the  rivers  were  opened ;  the  blind  men  began  to 
recover ;  and,  launching  the  canoes  which  they  had 
dragged  after  them,  the  party  pursued  their  way 
by  water.  They  soon  met  a  band  of  Illinois.  La 
Salle  gave  them  presents,  condoled  with  them  on 
their  losses,  and  urged  them  to  make  peace  and 
alliance  with  the  Miamis.  Thus,  he  said,  they 
could  set  the  Iroquois .  at  defiance ;  for  he  himself, 
with  his  Frenchmen  and  his  Indian  friends,  would 
make  his  abode  among  them,  supply  them  with 
goods,  and  aid  them  to  defend  themselves.  They 
listened,  well  pleased,  promised  to  carry  his  message 
to  their  countrymen,  and  furnished  him  with  a  large 
supply  of  corn.2  Meanwhile,  he  had  rejoined  La 
Forest,  whom  he  now  sent  to  Michillimackinac  to 
await  Tonty,  and  tell  him  to  remain  there  till  he, 
La  Salle,  should  arrive. 

Having  thus  accomplished  the  objects  of  his 
journey,  he  returned  to  Fort  Miami,  whence  he 
soon  after  ascended  the  St.  Joseph  to  the  village  of 


1  Relation  des  D&ouvertes,  MS.     A  valuable  confirmation  of  Hennepin's 
narrative. 

2  This  seems  to  have  been  taken  from  the  secret  repositories,  or  caches, 
of  the  ruined  town  of  the  Illinois. 


1681.]  EASTERN  INDIANS.  265 

the  Miami  Indians  on  the  portage,  at  the  head  of  the 
Kankakee.  Here  he  found  unwelcome  guests. 
These  were  a  band  of  Iroquois  warriors,  who  had 
been  for  some  time  in  the  place,  and  who,  as  he  was 
told,  had  demeaned  themselves  with  the  insolence 
of  conquerors,  and  spoken  of  the  French  with  the 
utmost  contempt.  He  hastened  to  confront  them, 
rebuked  and  menaced  them,  and  told  them  that 
now,  when  he  was  present,  they  dared  not  repeat 
the  calumnies  which  they  had  uttered  in  his  absence. 
They  stood  abashed  and  confounded,  and,  during 
the  following  night,  secretly  left  the  town,  and  fled. 
The  effect  was  prodigious  on  the  minds  of  the  Mia- 
mis,  when  they  saw  that  La  Salle,  backed  by  ten 
Frenchmen,  could  command  from  their  arrogant 
visitors  a  respect  which  they,  with  their  hundreds 
of  warriors,  had  wholly  failed  to  inspire.  Here,  at 
the  outset,  was  an  augury  full  of  promise  for  the 
approaching  negotiations. 

There  were  other  strangers  in  the  •  town,  —  a 
band  of  eastern  Indians,  more  numerous  than  those 
who  had  wintered  at  the  fort.  The  greater  num- 
ber were  from  Rhode  Island,  including,  probably, 
some  of  King  Philip's  warriors  ;  others  were  from 
New  York,  and  others  again  from  Virginia.  La 
Salle  called  them  to  a  council,  promised  them  a 
new  home  in  the  West,  under  the  protection  of  the 
Great  King,  with  rich  lands,  an  abundance  of  game, 
and  French  traders  to  supply  them  with  the  goods 
which  they  had  once  received  from  the  English. 
Let  them  but  help  him  to  make  peace  between  the 
Miamis  and  the  Illinois,  and  he  would  insure  for 

23 


266  LA  SALLE   BEGINS  ANEW.  [1681. 

them  a  future  of  prosperity  and  safety.  They  lis- 
tened with  open  ears,  and  promised  their  aid  in  the 
work  of  peace. 

On  the  next  morning,  the  Miamis  were  called  to 
a  grand  council.  It  was  held  in  the  lodge  of  their 
chief,  from  which  the  mats  were  removed,  that  the 
crowd  without  might  hear  what  was  said.  La  Salle 
rose,  and  harangued  the  concourse.  Few  men  were 
so  skilled  in  the  arts  of  forest  rhetoric  and  diplo- 
macy. After  the  Indian  mode,  he  was,  to  follow 
his  chroniclers,  "the  greatest  orator  in  North 
America."  *  He  began  with  a  gift  of  tobacco,  to 
clear  the  brains  of  Iris  auditory ;  next,  for  he  had 
brought  a  canoe-load  of  presents  to  support  his  elo- 
quence, he  gave  them  cloth  to  cover  their  dead, 
coats  to  dress  them,  hatchets  to  build  a  grand  scaf- 
fold in  their  honor,  and  beads,  bells,  and  trinkets 
of  all  sorts,  to  decorate  their  relatives  at  a  grand 
funeral  feast.  All  this  was  mere  metaphor.  The 
living,  while  appropriating  the  gifts  to  their  own 
use,  were  pleased  at  the  compliment  offered  to  then- 
dead  ;  and  their  delight  redoubled  as  the  orator  pro- 
ceeded. One  of  their  great  chiefs  had  lately  been 
killed  ;  and  La  Salle,  after  a  eulogy  of  the  departed, 
declared  that  he  would  now  raise  him  to  life  again ; 
that  is,  that  he  would  assume  his  name,  and  give 
support  to  his  squaws  and  children.  This  flattering 
announcement  drew  forth  an  outburst  of  applause  ; 
and  when,  to  confirm  his  words,  his  attendants 
placed  before  them  a  huge  pile  of  coats,  shirts,  and 

1  "  En  ce  genre,  il  e'toit  le  plus  grand  orateur  de  l'Amerique  Septen- 
trionale."  —  Relation  des  De'couvei-tts,  MS. 


1681.]  LA  SALLE'S   ORATORY.  267 

hunting-knives,  the  whole  assembly  exploded  in 
yelps  of  admiration. 

Now  came  the  climax  of  the  harangue,  intro- 
duced by  a  farther  present  of  six  guns. 

"  He  who  is  my  master,  and  the  master  of  all 
this  country,  is  a  mighty  chief,  feared  by  the  whole 
world  ;  but  he  loves  peace,  and  the  words  of  his 
lips  are  for  good  alone.  He  is  called  the  King  of 
France,  and  he  is  the  mightiest  among  the  chiefs 
beyond  the  great  water.  His  goodness  reaches 
even  to  your  dead,  and  his  subjects  come  among 
you  to  raise  them  up  to  life.  But  it  is  his  will  to 
preserve  the  life  he  has  given :  it  is  his  will  that 
you  should  obey  his  laws,  and  make  no  war  without 
the  leave  of  Onontio,  who  commands  in  his  name 
at  Quebec,  and  who  loves  all  the  nations  alike,  be- 
cause such  is  the  will  of  the  Great  King.  You 
ought,  then,  to  live  at  peace  with  your  neighbors, 
and  above  all  with  the  Illinois.  You  have  had 
causes  of  quarrel  with  them  ;  but  their  defeat  has 
avenged  you.  Though  they  are  still  strong,  they 
wish  to  make  peace  with  you.  Be.  content  with 
the  glory  of  having  obliged  them  to  ask  for  it.  You 
have  an  interest  in  preserving  them ;  since,  if  the 
Iroquois  destroy  them,  they  will  next  destroy  you. 
Let  us  all  obey  the  Great  King,  and  live  together 
in  peace,  under  his  protection.  Be  of  my  mind, 
and  use  these  guns'  that  I  have  given  you,  not  to 
make  war,  but  only  to  hunt  and  to  defend  your- 
selves." 1 

1  Translated  from  the  Relation,  where  these  councils  are  reported  at 
great  length. 


268  LA   SALLE  BEGINS  ANEW.  [1681. 

So  saying,  he  gave  two  belts  of  wampum  to  con- 
firm his  words ;  and  the  assembly  dissolved.  On 
the  following  day,  the  chiefs  again  convoked  it,  and 
made  their  reply  in  form.  It  was  all  that  La  Salle 
could  have  wished.  ;'  The  Illinois  is  our  brother, 
because  he  is  the  son  of  our  Father,  the  Great 
King."  wt  We  make  you  the  master  of  our  beaver 
and  our  lands,  of  our  minds  and  our  bodies."  "  We 
cannot  winder  that  our  brothers  from  the  East  wish 
to  live  with  you.  We  should  have  wished  so  too, 
if  we  had  known  what  a  blessing  it  is  to  be  the 
children  of  the  Great  King."  The  rest  of  this 
auspicious  day  was  passed  in  feasts  and  dances,  in 
which  La  Salle  and  his  Frenchmen  all  bore  part. 
His  new  scheme  was  hopefully  begun  ;  the  ground 
was  broken,  and  the  seed  sown.  It  remained  to 
achieve  the  enterprise,  twice  defeated,  of  the  dis- 
covery of  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  that  vital 
condition  of  his  triumph,  without  which  all  other 
successes  were  meaningless  and  vain. 

To  this  end  he  must  return  to  Canada,  appease 
his  creditors, -and  collect  his  scattered  resources. 
Towards  the  end  of  May,  he  set  out  in  canoes 
from  Fort  Miami,  and  reached  Michillimackinac 
after  a  prosperous  voyage.  Here,  to  his  great  joy, 
he  found  Tonty  and  Zenobe  Membre,  who  had 
lately  arrived  from  Green  Bay.  The  meeting  was 
one  at  which  even  his  stoic  nature  must  have 
melted.  Each  had  for  the  other  a  tale  of  disaster ; 
but,  when  La  Salle  recounted  the  long  succession 
of  his  reverses,  it  was  with  the  tranquil  tone  and 
cheerful  look  of  one  who  relates  the  incidents  of  an 


1681.]  DIFFICULTIES.  269 

ordinary  journey.  Membre  looked  on  him  with 
admiration.  "  Any  one  else,"  he  says,  "  would 
have  thrown  up  his  hand,  and  abandoned  the  enter- 
prise ;  but,  far  from  this,  with  a  firmness  and  con- 
stancy that  never  had  its  equal,  I  saw  him  more 
resolved  than  ever  to  continue  his  work  and  push 
forward  his  discovery."  1 

Without  loss  of  time,  they  embarked  together  for 
Fort  Frontenac,  paddled  their  canoes  a  thousand 
miles,  and  safely  reached  their  destination.  Here, 
in  this  third  beginning  of  his  disastrous  enterprise, 
La  Salle  found  himself  beset  with  embarrassments. 
Not  only  was  he  burdened  with  the  fruitless  costs 
of  his  two  former  efforts,  but  the  heavy  debts  which 
he  had  incurred  in  building  and  maintaining  Fort 
Frontenac  had  not  been  wholly  paid.  The  fort 
and  the  seigniory  were  already  deeply  mortgaged  ; 
yet,  through  the  influence  of  Count  Frontenac,  the 
assistance  of  his  secretary,  Barrois,  a  consummate 
man  of  business,  and  the  support  of  a  wealthy  rela- 
tive, he  found  means  to  appease  his  creditors  and 
even  to  gain  fresh  advances.  To  this  end,  how- 
ever, he  was  forced  to  part  with  a  portion  of  his 
monopolies.  Having  first  made  his  will  at  Mon- 
treal, in  favor  of  a  cousin  who  had  befriended  him,2 
he  mustered  his  men,  and  once  more  set  forth,  re- 
solved to  trust  no  more  to  agents,  but  to  lead  on 

1  Membre-,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  208.  Tonty,  in  his  unpublished  memoir, 
speaks  of  the  joy  of  La  Salle  at  the  meeting.  The  Relation,  usually  very 
accurate,  says  erroneously,  that  Tonty  had  gone  to  Fort  Frontenac.  La 
Forest  had  gone  thither  not  long  before  La  Salle's  arrival. 

2  Copie  du  testament  du  deffunt  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  11  Aout,  1681,  MS.  The 
relative  was  Francois  Plet,  M.D.,  of  Paris. 

23* 


270  LA   SALLE  BEGINS   ANEW.  [1681. 

his  followers,  in  a  united  body,  under  his  own  per- 
sonal command.1' 

The  summer  was  spent  when  he  reached  Lake 
Huron.  Day  after  day,  and  week  after  week,  the 
heavy-laden  canoes  crept  on  along  the  lonely  wil- 
derness shores,  by  the  monotonous  ranks  of  bristling 
moss-bearded  firs  ;  lake  and  forest,  forest  and  lake  ; 
a  dreary  scene  haunted  with  yet  more  dreary  memo- 
ries,—  disasters,  sorrows,  and  deferred  hopes  ;  time, 
strength,  and  wealth  spent  in  vain  ;  a  ruinous  past 
and  a  doubtful  future  ;  slander,  obloquy,  and  hate. 
With  unmoved  heart,  the  patient  voyager  held  his 
course,  and  drew  up  his  canoes  at  last  on  the  beach 
at  Fort  Miami. 


.l  "  On  apprendra  a  la  fin  de  cette  anne'e,  1682,  le  succes  de  la  decouverte 
qu'il  e"toit  resolu  d'achever,  au  plus  tard  le  printemps  dernier,  ou  de  perir 
en  y  travaillant.  Tant  de  traverses  et  de  malheurs  toujours  arrives  en 
son  absence  l'ont  fait  re'soudre  a  ne  se  fier  plus  h  personne  et  k  conduire 
lui-meme  tout  son  monde,  tout  son  equipage,  et  toute  son  entreprise,  de 
laquelle  il  esperoit  une  heureuse  conclusion." 

The  above  is  a  part  of  the  closing  paragraph  of  the  Relation  des  De~- 
couvertes,  so  often  cited,  and  of  the  excellent  guidance  of  which  we  are 
henceforth  deprived.  It  is  a  compilation  made  up  from  material  supplied 
by  the  various  members  of  La  Salle's  party,  on  their  return  to  Canada,  in 
1681 ;  and  the  greater  portion  is  substantially  the  work  of  La  Salle  him- 
self.   It  is  a  document  of  great  interest  and  undoubted  authority. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

1681-1682. 
SUCCESS  OF  LA  SALLE. 

His  Followers. — The  Chicago  Portage.  —  Descent  of  the  Missis; 
sippi.  —  The  Lost  Hunter.  —  The  Arkansas.  —  The  Taensas.  —  The 
Natchez.  —  Hostility. — The  Mouth  op  the  Mississippi.  —  Louis 
XIV.  proclaimed  Sovereign  of  the  Great  West. 

The  season  was  far  advanced.  On  the  bare 
limbs  of  the  forest  hung  a  few  withered  remnants 
of  its  gay  autumnal  livery ;  and  the  smoke  crept 
upward  through  the  sullen  November  air  from  the 
squalid  wigwams  of  La  Salle's  Abenaki  and  Mohe- 
gan  allies.  These,  his  new  friends,  were  savages, 
whose  midnight  yells  had  .startled  the  border  ham- 
lets of  New  England ;  who  had  danced  around 
Puritan  scalps,  and  whom  Puritan  imaginations 
painted  as  incarnate  fiends.  La  Salle  chose  eigh- 
teen of  them,  "  all  well  inured  to  war,"  as  his 
companion  Membre  writes,  and  added  them  to  the 
twenty-three  Frenchmen  who  composed  his  party. 
They  insisted  on  taking  their  women  with  them,  to 
cook  for  them,  and  do  other  camp  work.  These 
were  ten  in  number,  besides  three  children ;  and 
thus  the  expedition  included  fifty-four  persons,  of 
whom  some  were  useless,  and  others  a  burden. 


272  SUCCESS   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1682. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  December,  Tonty  and 
Membre  set  out  from  Fort  Miami  with  some  of 
the  party  in  six  canoes,  and  crossed  to  the  little 
river  Chicago.1  La  Salle,  with  the  rest  of  the 
men,  joined  them  a  few  days  later.  It  was  the 
dead  of  winter,  and  the  streams  were  frozen.  They 
made  sledges,  placed  on  them  the  canoes,  the  bag- 
gage, and  a  disabled  Frenchman ;  crossed  from  the 
Chicago  to  the  northern  branch  of  the  Illinois,  and 
filed  in  a  long  procession  down  its  frozen  course. 
They  reached  the  site  of  the  great  Illinois  village, 
found  it  tenantless,  and  continued  their  journey, 
still  dragging  their  canoes,  till  at  length  they 
reached  open  water  below  Lake  Peoria. 

La  Salle  had  abandoned,  for  a  time,  his  original 
plan  of  building  a  vessel  for  the  navigation  of  the 
Mississippi.  Bitter  experience  had  taught  him 
the  difficulty  of  the  attempt,  and  he  resolved  to 
trust  to  his  canoes  alone.  They  embarked  again, 
floating  prosperously  down  between  the  leafless 
forests  that  flanked  the  tranquil  river ;  till,  on  the 
sixth  of  February,  they  issued  forth  on  the  majes- 

1  La  Salle,  Relation  de  la  D&ouverte,  1682,  in  Thomassy,  Ge'ologie  Pra- 
tique de  la  Louisiane,  9  ;  Lettre  du  Pere  Zenoble  (Zenobe  Membre),  14  Aoust, 
1682,  MS. ;  Membre,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  214 ;  Tontv.  Mg  moire,  MS. ;  Proces 
Verbal  de  la  Prise  de  Possession  de  la  Louisiane. 

The  narrative  ascribed  to  Membre',  and  published  by  Le  Clercq,  is 
based  on  the  document  preserved  in  the  Archives  Scientifiques  de  la' 
Marine,  entitled  Relation  de  la  D&ouverte  de  I' Embouchure  de  la  Riviere  Mis- 
sissippi Jhite  par  le  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  I'annee  passe~e,  1682.  The  writer  of 
the  narrative  has  used  it  very  freely,  copying  the  greater  part  verbatim, 
with  occasional  additions  of  a  kind  which  seem  to  indicate  that  he  had 
taken  part  in  the  expedition.  The  Relation  de  la  Decouverte,  though  writ- 
ten in  the  third  person,  is  the  official  report  of  the  discovery  made  by  La 
Salle  ;  or  perhaps  for  him,  by  Membre'.  Membre"s  letter  of  August,  1682, 
is  a  brief  and  succinct  statement  made  immediately  after  his  return. 


1682.1  PRUDHOMME.  273 

tic  bosom  of  the  Mississippi.  Here,  for  the  time, 
their  progress  was  stopped ;  for  the  river  was  full 
of  floating  ice.  La  Salle's  Indians,  too,  had  lagged 
behind  ;  but,  within  a  week,  all  had  arrived,  the 
navigation  was  once  more  free,  and  they  resumed 
then*  course.  Towards  evening,  they  saw  on  their 
right  the  mouth  of  a  great  river ;  and  the  clear 
current  was  invaded  by  the  headlong  torrent  of  the 
Missouri,  opaque  with  mud.  They  built  their  camp- 
fires  in  the  neighboring  forest ;  and,  at  daylight, 
embarking  anew  on  the  dark  and  mighty  stream, 
drifted  swiftly  down  towards  unknown  destinies. 
They  passed  a  deserted  town  of  the  Tamaroas ; 
saw,  three  days  after,  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio ;  * 
and,  gliding  by  the  wastes  of  bordering  swamp, 
landed,  on  the  twenty-fourth  of  February,  near  the 
Third  Chickasaw  Bluffs.2  They  encamped,  and 
the  hunters  went  out  for  game.  All  returned,  ex- 
cepting Pierre  Prudhomme  ;  and,  as  the  others  had 
seen  fresh  tracks  of  Indians,  La  Salle  feared  that 
he  was  killed.  While  some  of  his  followers  built 
a  small  stockade  fort  on  a  high  bluff3  by  the  river, 
others  ranged  the  woods  in  pursuit  of  the  missing 
hunter.  After  six  days  of  ceaseless  and  fruitless 
search,  they  met  two  Chickasaw  Indians  in   the 

1  Called  by  Membre  the  Ouabache  (Wabash). 

2  La  Salle,  Relation  de  la  De'couverte  de  I'  Embouchure,  etc. ;  Thomassy,  10. 
Membre  gives  the  same  date  ;  but  the  Proces  Verbal  makes  it  the  twenty- 
sixth. 

'3  Gravier,  in  his  letter  of  16  Feb.  1701,  says  that  he  encamped  near  a 
"  great  bluff  of  stone,  called  Fort  Prudhomme,  because  M.  de  la  Salic, 
going  on  his  discovery,  entrenched  himself  here  with  his  party,  fearing 
that  Prudhomme,  who  had  lost  himself  in  the  woods,  had  been  killed 
by  the  Indians,  and  that  he  himself  would  be  attacked." 


274  SUCCESS   OF  LA  SALLE.  [1682. 

forest ;  and,  through  them,  La  Salle  sent  presents 
and  peace-messages  to  that  warlike  people,  whose 
villages  were  a  few  days'  journey  distant.  Several 
days  later,  Prudhomme  was  found,  and  brought 
in  to  the  camp,  half  dead.  He  had  lost  his  way 
while  hunting ;  and,  to  console  him  for  his  woes, 
La  Salle  christened  the  newly  built  fort  with  his 
name,  and  left  him,  with  a  few  others,  in  charge 
of  it. 

Again  they  embarked ;  and,  with  every  stage  of 
their  adventurous  progress,  the  mystery  of  this  vast 
New  World  was  more  and  more  unveiled.  More 
and  more  they  entered  the  realms  of  spring.  The 
hazy  sunlight,  the  warm  and  drowsy  air,  the  tender 
foliage,  the  opening  flowers,  betokened  the  reviving 
life  of  Nature.  For  several  days  more  they  fol- 
lowed the  writhings  of  the  great  river,  on  its 
tortuous  course  through  wastes  of  swamp  and 
cane-brake,  till  on  the  thirteenth  of  March *  they 
found  themselves  wrapped  in  a  thick  fog.  Neither 
shore  was  visible ;  but  they  heard  on  the  right  the 
booming  of  an  Indian  drum,  and  the  shrill  outcries 
of  the  war-dance.  La  Salle  at  once  crossed  to  the 
opposite  side,  where,  in  less  than  an  hour,  his  men 
threw  up  a  rude  fort  of  felled  trees.  Meanwhile, 
the  fog  cleared;  and,  from  the  farther  bank,  the 
astonished  Indians  saw  the  strange  visitors  at  their 
work.  Some  of  the  French  advanced  to  the  edge 
of  the  water,  and  beckoned  them  to  come  over. 
Several  of  them  approached,  in  a  wooden  canoe,  to 

1  La  Salle,  Relation ;  Thomassy,  11. 


1682.]  THE   ARKANSAS.  275 

within  the  distance  of  a  gun-shot.  La  Salle  dis- 
played the  calumet,  and  sent  a  Frenchman  to  meet 
them.  He  was  well  received ;  and  the  friendly 
mood  of  the  Indians  being  now  apparent,  the 
whole  party  crossed  the  river. 

On  landing,  they  found  themselves  at  a  town  of 
the  Kappa  band  of  the  Arkansas,  a  people  dwell- 
ing near  the  mouth  of  the  river  which  bears  their 
name.  The  inhabitants  flocked  about  them  with 
eager  signs  of  welcome  ;  built  huts  for  them,  brought 
them  firewood,  gave  them  corn,  beans,  and  dried 
fruits,  and  feasted  them  without  respite  for  three 
days.  "  They  are  a  lively,  civil,  generous  people," 
says  Membre,  "  very  different  from  the  cold  and 
taciturn  Indians  of  the  North."  They  showed, 
indeed,  some  slight  traces  of  a  tendency  towards 
civilization ;  for  domestic  fowls  and  tame  geese 
were  wandering  among  their  rude  cabins  of  bark.1 

La  Salle  and  Tonty  at  the  head  of  their  follow- 
ers marched  to  the  open  area  in  the  midst  of  the 
village.  Here,  to  the  admiration  of  the  gazing 
crowd  of  warriors,  women,  and  children,  a  cross 
was  raised  bearing  the  arms  of  France.  Membre, 
in  canonicals,  sang  a  hymn  ;  the  men  shouted  Vive 
le  Hoi  ;  and  La  Salle,  in  the  king's  name,  took  for- 
mal possession  of  the  country.2  The  friar,  not,  he 
flatters  himself,  without  success,  labored  to  ex- 
pound by  signs  the  mysteries  of  the  faith ;  while 
La   Salle,   by  methods  equally   satisfactory,  drew 

1  Membn?,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  224  ;  Tonty,  Me'moire,  MS. 

2  Proces  Verbal  de  la  Prise  de  Possession  du  Pays  des  Arkansas,  14  Mars, 
1682,  MS. 


276  SUCCESS   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1682. 

from  the  chief  an   acknowledgment   of  fealty   to 
Louis   XIV.1 

After  touching  at  several  other  towns  of  this 
people,  the  voyagers  resumed  their  course,  guided 
by  two  of  the  Arkansas ;  passed  the  sites,  since 
become  historic,  of  Vicksburg  and  Grand  Gulf;  and, 
about  three  hundred  miles  below  the  Arkansas, 
stopped  by  the  edge  of  a  swamp  on  the  western 
side  of  the  river.2  Here,  as  their  two  guides  told 
them,  was  the  path  to  the  great  town  of  the  Taen- 
sas.  Tonty  and  Membre  were  sent  to  visit  it.  They 
and  their  men  shouldered  their  birch  canoe  through 
the  swamp,  and  launched  it  on  a  lake  which  had 
once  formed  a  portion  of  the  channel  of  the  river. 
In  two  hours  they  reached  the  town,  and  Tonty 
gazed  at  it  with  astonishment.  He  had  seen  nothing 
like  it  in  America ;  large  square  dwellings,  built  of 
sun-baked  mud  mixed  with  straw,  arched  over  with 
a  dome-shaped  roof  of  canes,  and  placed  in  regu- 
lar order  around  an  open  area.  Two  of  them  were 
larger  and  better  than  the  rest.     One  was  the  lodge 

1  The  nation  of  the  Akanseas,  Alkansas,  or  Arkansas,  dwelt  on  the 
west  bank  of  the  Mississippi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas.  They 
were  divided  into  four  tribes,  living  for  the  most  part  in  separate  villages. 
Those  first  visited  by  La  Salle  were  the  Kappas  or  Quapaws,  a  remnant 
of  whom  still  subsists.  The  others  were  the  Topingas,  or  Tongengas  ; 
the  Torimans;  and  the  Osotouoy,  or  Sauthouis.  According  to  Charlevoix, 
who  saw  them  iij  1721,  they  were  regarded  as  the  tallest  and  best  formed 
Indians  in  America,  and  were  known  as  les  Beaux  Hommes.  Gravier  says 
that  they  once  lived  on  the  Ohio. 

2  In  Tensas  County,  Louisiana.  Tonty's  estimates  of  distance  are  here 
much  too  low.  They  seem  to  be  founded  on  observations  of  latitude, 
without  reckoning  the  windings  of  the  river.  It  may  interest  sportsmen 
to  know  that  the  party  killed  several  large  alligators  on  their  way.  Mem- 
bre' is  much  astonished  that  such  monsters  should  be  born  of  eggs,  like 
chickens. 


1682.]  THE  TAENSAS.  277 

of  the  chief;  the  other  was  the  temple,  or  house 
of  the  Sun.  They  entered  the  former,  and  found 
a  single  room,  forty  feet  square,  where,  in  the  dim 
light,  for  there  was  no  opening  but  the  door,  the 
chief  sat  awaiting  them  on  a  sort  of  bedstead, 
three  of  his  wives  at  his  side,  while  sixty  old 
men,  wrapped  in  white  cloaks  woven  of  mulberry- 
bark,  formed  his  divan.  When  he  spoke,  his  wives 
howled  to  do  him  honor ;  and  the  assembled  coun- 
cillors listened  with  the  reverence  due  to  a  poten- 
tate for  whom,  at  his  death,  a  hundred  victims 
were  to  be  sacrificed.  He  received  the  visitors 
graciously,  and  joyfully  accepted  the  gifts  which 
Tonty  laid  before  him.1  This  interview  over,  the 
Frenchmen  repaired  to  the  temple,  wherein  were 
kept  the  bones  of  the  departed  chiefs.  In  construc- 
tion it  was  much  like  the  royal  dwelling.  Over  it 
were  rude  wooden  figures,  representing  three  eagles 
turned  towards  the  east.  A  strong  mud  wall  sur- 
rounded it,  planted  with  stakes,  on  which  were 
stuck  the  skulls  of  enemies  sacrificed  to  the  Sun ; 
while  before  the  door  was  a  block  of  wood,  on 
which  lay  a  large  shell  surrounded  with  the  braided 
hair  of  the  victims.  The  interior  was  rude  as  a 
barn,  dimly  lighted  from  the  doorway,  and  full  of 
smoke.  There  was  a  structure  in  the  middle  which 
Membre  thinks  was  a  kind  of  altar ;  arrd  before  it 
burned  a  perpetual  fire,  fed  with  three  logs  laid 
end  to  end,  and  watched  by  two  old  men  devoted 

1  Tonty,  M&noire,  MS.  In  the  spurious  narrative  published  in  Ton- 
ty's  name,  the  account  is  embellished  and  exaggerated.  Compare  Mem- 
br6,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  227.  La  Salle's  statements  in  the  Relation  of  1G82 
(Thomassy,  12)  sustain  those  of  Tonty. 

24 


278  SUCCESS   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1682. 

to  this  sacred  office.  There  was  a  mysterious  recess, 
too,  which  the  strangers  were  forbidden  to  explore, 
but  which,  as  Tonty  was  told,  contained  the  riches 
of  the  nation,  consisting  of  pearls  from  the  Gulf, 
and  trinkets  obtained,  probably  through  other  tribes, 
from  the  Spaniards  and  other  Europeans. 

The  chief  condescended  to  visit  La  Salle  at  his 
camp ;  a  favor  which  he  would  by  no  means  have 
granted,  had  the  visitors  been  Indians.  A  master 
of  ceremonies,  and  six  attendants,  preceded  him,  to 
clear  the  path  and  prepare  the  place  of  meeting. 
When  all  was  ready,  he  was  seen  advancing,  clothed 
in  a  white  robe,  and  preceded  by  two  men  bearing 
white  fans  ;  while  a  third  displayed  a  disk  of  bur- 
nished copper,  doubtless  to  represent  the  Sun,  his 
ancestor ;  or,  as  others  will  have  it,  his  elder 
brother.  His  aspect  was  marvellously  grave,  and 
he  and  La  Salle  met  with  gestures  of  ceremonious 
courtesy.  The  interview  was  very  friendly ;  and  the 
chief  returned  well  pleased  with  the  gifts  which  his 
entertainer  bestowed  on  him,  and  which,  indeed, 
had  been  the  principal  motive  of  his  visit. 

On  the  next  morning,  as  they  descended  the 
river,  they  saw  a  wooden  canoe  full  of  Indians ; 
and  Tonty  gave  chase.  He  had  nearly  overtaken 
it,  when  more  than  a  hundred  men  appeared  sud- 
denly on  the  shore,  with  bows  bent  to  defend  their 
countrymen.  La  Salle  called  out  to  Tonty  to  with- 
draw. He  obeyed  ;  and  the  whole  party  encamped 
on  the  opposite  bank.  Tonty  offered  to  cross  the 
river  with  a  peace-pipe,  and  set  out  accordingly 
with  a  small  party  of  men.     When  he  landed,  the 


1682.]  THE  NATCHEZ.  279 

Indians  made  signs  of  friendship  by  joining  their 
hands,  —  a  proceeding  by  which  Tonty,  having  but 
one  hand,  was  somewhat  embarrassed ;  but  he  di- 
rected his  men  to  respond  in  his  stead.  La  Salle 
and  Membre  now  joined  him,  and  went  with  the 
Indians  to  their  village,  three  leagues  distant. 
Here  they  spent  the  night.  "  The  Sieur  de  la 
Salle,"  writes  Membre,  "  whose  very  air,  engaging 
manners,  tact,  and  address  attract  love  and  respect 
alike,  produced  such  an  effect  on  the  hearts  of 
these  people,  that  they  did  not  know  how  to  treat 
us  well  enough."  1 

The  Indians  of  this  village  were  the  Natchez ; 
and  their  chief  was  brother  of  the  great  chief,  or 
Sun,  of  the  whole  nation.  His  town  was  several 
leagues  distant,  near  the  site  of  the  city  of  Natchez  ; 
and  thither  the  French  repaired  to  visit  him.  They 
saw  what  they  had  already  seen  among  the  Taensas, 
—  a  religious  and  political  despotism,  a  privileged 
caste  descended  from  the  Sun,  a  temple,  and  a 
sacred  fire.9     La  Salle  planted  a  large  cross,  with 

1  Membre,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  232. 

2  The  Natchez  and  the  Taensas,  whose  habits  and  customs  were  similar, 
did  not,  in  their  social  organization,  differ  radically  from  other  Indians. 
The  same  principle  of  clanship,  or  totemship,  so  widely  spread,  existed  in 
full  force  among  them,  combined  with  their  religious  ideas,  and  developed 
into  forms  of  which  no  other  example,  equally  distinct,  is  to  be  found. 
(For  Indian  clanship,  see  "Jesuits  in  North  America,"  Introduction.) 
Among  the  Natchez  and  Taensas,  the  principal  clan  formed  a  ruling  caste  ; 
and  its  chiefs  had  the  attributes  of  demi-gods.  As  descent  was  through 
the  female,  the  chiefs  son  never  succeeded  him,  but  the  son  of  one  of  his 
sisters ;  and  as  she,  by  the  usual  totemic  law,  was  forced  to  marry  in 
another  clan,  —  that  is,  to  marry  a  common  mortal, — her  husband, 
though  the  destined  father  of  a  demi-god,  was  treated  by  her  as  little 
better  than  a  slave.  She  might  kill  him,  if  he  proved  unfaithful ;  but  he 
was  forced  to  submit  to  her  infidelities  in  silence. 

The  customs  of  the  Natchez  have  been  described  by  Du  Fratz,  Le 


280  SUCCESS  OF  LA  SALLE.  [1682. 

the  arms  of  France  attached,  in  the  midst  of  the 
town ;  while  the  inhabitants  looked  on  with  a  satis- 
faction which  they  would  hardly  have  displayed, 
had  they  understood  the  meaning  of  the  act. 

The  French  next  visited  the  Coroas,  at  their 
village,  two  leagues  below ;  and  here  they  found  a 
reception  no  less  auspicious.  On  the  thirty-first 
of  March,  as  they  approached  Ked  River,  they 
passed  in  the  fog  a  town  of  the  Oumas  ;  and,  three 
days  later,  discovered  a  party  of  fishermen,  in 
wooden  canoes,  among  the  canes  along  the  margin 
of  the  water.  They  fled  at  sight  of  the  French- 
men. La  Salle  sent  men  to  reconnoitre,  who,  as 
they  struggled  through  the  marsh,  were  greeted 
with  a  shower  of  arrows  ;  while,  from  the  neighbor- 
ing village  of  the  Quinipissas,1  invisible  behind  the 
cane-brake,  they  heard  the  sound  of  an  Indian  drum, 
and  the  whoops  of  the  mustering  warriors.  La 
Salle,  anxious  to  keep  the  peace  with  all  the  tribes 
along  the  river,  recalled  his  men,  and  pursued  his 
voyage.  A  few  leagues  below,  they  saw  a  cluster 
of  Indian  lodges  on  the  left  bank,  apparently  void 
of  inhabitants.  They  landed,  and  found  three  of 
them  filled  with  corpses.  It  was  a  village  of  the 
Tangibao,  sacked  by  their  enemies  only  a  few  days 
before.2 

Petit,  and  others.  Charlevoix  visited  their  temple  in  1721,  and  found  it  in 
a  somewhat  shabby  condition.  At  this  time,  the  Taensas  were  extinct. 
In  1729,  the  Natchez,  enraged  by  the  arbitrary  conduct  of  a  French  com- 
mandant, massacred  the  neighboring  settlers,  and  were  in  consequence 
expelled  from  their  country  and  nearly  destroyed.  A  few  still  survive, 
incorporated  with  the  Creeks  ;  but  they  have  lost  their  peculiar  customs. 

1  In  St.  Charles  County,  on  the  left  bank,  not  far  above  New  Orleans. 

2  Hennepin  uses  this  incident,  as  well  as  most  of  those  which  have 
preceded  it,  in  making  up  the  story  of  his  pretended  voyage  to  the  Gulf. 


1682.]  POSSESSION  TAKEN.  281 

And  now  they  neared  their  journey's  end.  On 
the  sixth  of  April,  the  river  divided  itself  into  three 
broad  channels.  La  Salle  followed  that  of  the  west, 
and  D'Autray  that  of  the  east ;  while  TOnty  took  the 
middle  passage.  As  he  drifted  down  the  turbid 
current,  between  the  low  and  marshy  shores,  the 
brackish  water  changed  to  brine,  and  the  breeze 
grew  fresh  with  the  salt  breath  of  the.  sea.  Then 
the  broad  bosom  of  the  great  Gulf  opened  on  his 
sight,  tossing  its  restless  billows,  limitless,  voiceless, 
lonely,  as  when  born  of  chaos,  without  a  sail,  with- 
out a  sign  of  life. 

La  Salle,  in  a  canoe,  coasted  the  marshy  borders 
of  the  sea ;  and  then  the  reunited  parties  assembled 
on  a  spot  of  dry  ground,  a  short  distance  above  the 
mouth  of  the  river.  Here  a  column  was  made  ready, 
bearing  the  arms  of  France,  and  inscribed  with  the 
words,  — 

Louis  le  Grand,  Roy  de  France  et  de  Navarre, 
regne  ;  le  Neuvieme  Avril,  1682. 

The  Frenchmen  were  mustered  under  arms  ;  and, 
while  the  New-England  Indians  and  their  squaws 
stood  gazing  in  wondering  silence,  they  chanted  the 
Te  Deum,  the  JExaudiat,  and  the  Domine  salvum 
fac  Regem.  Then,  amid  volleys  of  musketry  and 
shouts  of  Vive  le  Boi,  La  Salle  planted  the  column 
in  its  place,  and,  standing  near  it,  proclaimed  in  a 
loud  voice,  — 

"  In  the  name  of  the  most  high,  mighty,  invincible, 
and  victorious  Prince,  Louis  the  Great,  by  the  grace 
of  God  King  of  France  and  of  Navarre,  Fourteenth 

24* 


282  SUCCESS  OF  LA  SALLE.  [1682. 

of  that  name,  I,  this  ninth  day  of  April,  one  thou- 
sand six  hundred  and  eighty-two,  in  virtue  of  the 
commission  of  his  Majesty,  which  I  hold  in  my  hand, 
and  which  may  be  seen  by  all  whom  it  may  concern, 
have  taken,  and  do  now  take,  in  the  name  of  his 
Majesty  and  of  his  successors  to  the  crown,  posses- 
sion of  this  country  of  Louisiana,  the  seas,  harbors, 
ports,  bays,  adjacent  straits,  and  all  the  nations, 
peoples,  provinces,  cities,  towns,  villages,  mines, 
minerals,  fisheries,  streams,  and  rivers,  within  the  ex- 
tent of  the  said  Louisiana,  from  the  mouth  of  the 
great  river  St.  Louis,  otherwise  called  the  Ohio, 
...  as  also  along  the  River  Colbert,  or  Mississippi, 
and  the  rivers  which  discharge  themselves  therein, 
from  its  source  beyond  the  country  of  the  Nadoues- 
sious  ...  as  far  as  its  mouth  at  the  sea,  or  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  also  to  the  mouth  of  the  River  of 
Palms,  upon  the  assurance  we  have  had  from  the 
natives  of  these  countries,  that  we  are  the  first  Euro- 
peans who  have  descended  or  ascended  the  said 
River  Colbert ;  hereby  protesting  against  all  who 
may  hereafter  undertake  to  invade  any  or  all  of  these 
aforesaid  countries,  peoples,  or  lands,  to  the  preju- 
dice of  the  rights  of  his  Majesty,  acquired  by  the 
consent  of  the  nations  dwelling  herein.  Of  which, 
and  of  all  else  that  is  needful,  I  hereby  take  to 
witness  those  who  hear  me,  and  demand  an  act  of 
the  notary  here  present." ' 

1  In  the  passages  omitted  above,  for  the  sake  of  brevity,  the  Ohio  is 
mentioned  as  being  called  also  the  Olighin  (Alleghany),  Sipon  and  Chu- 
kagoua ;  and  La  Salle  declares  that  he  takes  possession  of  the  country 
with  the  consent  of  the  nations  dwelling  in  it,  of  whom  he  names  the 
Chaouanons   (Shawanoes),  Kious,  or  Nadouessious  (Sioux),  Chikachas 


1682.1  POSSESSION  TAKEN.  283 

Shouts  of  Vive  le  Roi  and  volleys  of  musketry 
responded  to  his  words.  Then  a  cross  was  planted 
beside  the  column,  and  a  leaden  plate  buried  near  it, 
bearing  the  arms  of  France,  with  a  Latin  inscription, 
Ludovicus  Magnus  regnat.  The  weather-beaten 
voyagers  joined  their  voices  in  the  grand  hymn  of 
the  Vexilla  Regis  :  — 

"  The  banners  of  Heaven's  Bang  advance, 
The  mystery  of  the  Cross  shines  forth ; " 

and  renewed  shouts  of  Vive  le  Roi  closed  the  cere- 
mony. 

On  that  day,  the  realm  of  France  received  on 
parchment  a  stupendous  accession.  The  fertile 
plains  of  Texas ;  the  vast  basin  of  the  Mississippi, 
from  its  frozen  northern  springs  to  the  sultry  borders 
of  the  Gulf;  from  the  woody  ridges  of  the  Alleghanies 
to  the  bare  peaks  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  —  a  region 
of  savannahs  and  forests,  sun-cracked  deserts,  and 
grassy  prairies,  watered  by  a  thousand  rivers,  ranged 
by  a  thousand  warlike  tribes,  passed  beneath  the 
sceptre  of  the  Sultan  of  Versailles ;  and  all  by 
virtue  of  a  feeble  human  voice,  inaudible  at  half  a 
mile. 

(Chickasaws),  Motantees  (?),  Illinois,  Mitchigamias,  Arkansas,  Natches, 
and  Koroas.  This  alleged  consent  is,  of  course,  mere  farce.  If  there 
could  be  any  doubt  as  to  the  meaning  of  the  words  of  La  Salle,  as  recorded 
in  the  Proces  Verbal  de  la  Prise  de  Possession  de  la  Louisiane,  it  would  be 
set  at  rest  by  Le  Clercq,  who  says,  "  Le  Sieur  de  la  Salle  prit  au  nom  de 
sa  Majeste  possession  de  ce  fieuve,  de  toutes  les  rivieres  qui  y  entrent,  et  de 
tous  les  pays  qu'elles  arrosent."  These  words  are  borrowed  from  the  report 
of  La  Salle ;  see  Thomassy,  14.  A  copy  of  the  original  of  the  Proces 
Verbal  is  before  me.  It  bears  the  name  of  Jacques  de  la  Me'tairie,  Notary 
of  Fort  Frontenac,  who  was  one  of  the  party. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

1682-1683. 
ST.  LOUIS  OF  THE  ILLINOIS. 

Louisiana.  —  Illness  of  La  Salle. — His  Colony  on  the  Illinois. — 
Foet  St.  Louis. — Recall  of  Frontenac.  —  Le  Fevre  de  la  Barre. 
—  Critical  Position  of  La  Salle.  —  Hostility  of  the  New  Gover- 
nor. —  Triumph  of  the  Adverse  Faotion.  —  La  Salle  sails  foe 
France. 

Louisiana  was  the  name  bestowed  by  La  Salle 
on  the  new  domain  of  the  French  crown.  The 
rule  of  the  Bourbons  in  the  West  is  a  memory  of 
the  past,  but  the  name  of  the  Great  King  still 
survives  in  a  narrow  corner  of  their  lost  empire. 
The  Louisiana  of  to-day  is  but  a  single  State  of 
the  American  republic.  The  Louisiana  of  La  Salle 
stretched  from  the  Alleghanies  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains ;  from  the  Rio  Grande  and  the  Gulf  to  the 
farthest  springs  of  the  Missouri.1 

1  The  boundaries  are  laid  down  on  the  great  map  of  Franquelin,  made 
in  1684,  and  preserved  in  the  De'pot  des  Cartes  of  the  Marine.  The  line 
runs  along  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  and  thence  follows  the  heads  of 
the  streams  flowing  into  Lake  Michigan.  It  then  turns  north-west,  and  is 
lost  in  the  vast  unknown  of  the  now  British  Territories.  On  the  south 
it  is  drawn  by  the  heads  of  the  streams  flowing  into  the  Gulf,  as  far  west 
as  Mobile,  after  which  it  follows  the  shore  of  the  Gulf  to  a  little  south  of 
the  Rio  Grande,  then  runs  west,  north-west,  and  finally  north  along  the 
range  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 


1682.]  ILLNESS   OF  LA  SALLE.  285 

La  Salle  had  written  his  name  in  history  ;  but  his 
hard-earned  success  was  but  the  prelude  of  a  harder 
task.  Herculean  labors  lay  before  him,  if  he  would 
realize  the  schemes  with  which  his  brain  was  preg- 
nant. Bent  on  accomplishing  them,  he  retraced  his 
course,  and  urged  his  canoes  upward  against  the 
muddy  current.  The  party  were  famished.  They  had 
little  to  subsist  on  but  the  flesh  of  alligators.  When 
they  reached  the  Quinipissas,  who  had  proved  hos- 
tile on  their  way  down,  they  resolved  to  risk  an  in- 
terview with  them,  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  food. 
The  treacherous  savages  dissembled,  brought  them 
corn,  and,  on  the  following  night,  made  an  attack 
upon  them,  but  met  with  a  bloody  repulse.  They 
next  revisited  the  Natchez,  and  found  an  unfavor- 
able change  in  their  disposition  towards  them. 
They  feasted  them,  indeed,  but,  during  the  repast, 
surrounded  them  with  an  overwhelming  force  of 
warriors.  The  French,  however,  kept  so  well  on 
their  guard,  that  their  entertainers  dared  not  make 
an  attack,  and  suffered  them  to  depart  unmolested.1 

And  now,  in  a  career  of  unwonted  success  and 
anticipated  triumph,  La  Salle  was  sharply  arrested 
by  a  foe  against  which  the  boldest  heart  avails 
nothing.  As  he  ascended  the  Mississippi,  he  was 
seized  by  a  dangerous  illness.  Unable  to  proceed, 
he  sent  forward  Tonty  to  Michillimackinac,  whence, 
after  despatching  news  of  their  discovery  to  Canada, 
he  was  to  return  to  the  Illinois.  La  Salle  himself 
lay  helpless  at  Fort  Prudhomme,  the  palisade  work 
which  his  men  had  built  at  the  Chickasaw  Bluffs 

1  Tonty,  Mtmoire,  MS. 


286  ST.  LOUIS  OF  THE  ILLINOIS.  [1682. 

on  their  way  down.  Father  Zenobe  Membre  at- 
tended him ;  and,  at  the  end  of  July,  he  was  once 
more  in  a  condition  to  advance  by  slow  movements 
towards  the  Miami,  which  he  reached  in  abojit  a 
month. 

His  descent  of  the  Mississippi  had  been  success- 
ful as  an  exploration,  and  this  was  all.  Could  he 
have  executed  his  original  plan,  have  built  a  vessel 
on  the  Illinois  and  descended  in  her  to  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  he  would  have  been  able  to  defray  in  some 
measure  the  costs  of  the  enterprise,  by  means  of  a 
cargo  of  buffalo  hides  collected  from  Indians  on  the 
way,  with  which  he  would  have  sailed  to  the  AVest 
Indies,  or  perhaps  to  France.  With  a  fleet  of 
canoes,  this  was  of  course  impossible ;  and  there 
was  nothing  to  offset  the  enormous  outlay  which 
he  and  his  family  had  made.  He  proposed,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  found,  on  the  banks  of  the  Illinois, 
a  colony  of  French  and  Indians,  of  which  he  should 
be  the  feudal  lord,  and  which  should  answer  the 
double  purpose  of  a  bulwark  against  the  Iroquois 
and  a  depot  for  the  furs  of  all  the  Western  tribes ; 
and  be  hoped,  in  the  following  spring,  to  secure  an 
outlet  for  this  colony,  and  for  all  the  trade  of  the 
Mississippi  and  its  tributaries,  by  occupying  its 
mouth  with  a  fort  and  a  dependent  colony.1  Thus 
he  would  control  the  valley  of  the  great  river  of 
the  West. 

1  "  Monsieur  de  la  Salle  se  dispose  de  retourner  sur  ses  pas  a  la  mer  au 
printemps  prochain  avec  un  plus  grand  nombre  de  gens,  et  des  families, 
pour  y  faire  des  etablissemens."  Membre',  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  248.  This 
was  written  in  1682,  immediately  after  the  return  from  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi. 


1682.]  "STARVED  ROCK."  287 

He  rejoined  Tonty  at  Michillimackinac  in  Sep- 
tember. It  was  his  purpose  to  go  at  once  to  France 
to  provide  means  for  establishing  his  projected  post 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi ;  and  he  ordered 
Tonty,  meanwhile,  to  collect  as  many  men  as  pos- 
sible, return  to  the  Illinois,  build  a  fort,  and  lay  the 
foundations  of  the  colony,  the  plan  of  which  had 
been  determined  the  year  before.  La  Salle  was 
about  to  depart  for  Quebec,  when  news  reached 
him  that  changed  his  plans,  and  caused  him  to  post- 
pone his  voyage  to  France.  He  heard  that  those 
pests  of  the  wilderness,  the  Iroquois,  were  about  to 
renew  their  attacks  on  the  western  tribes,  and  espe- 
cially on  their  former  allies,  the  Miamis.1  This 
would  ruin  his  projected  colony.  His  presence  was 
indispensable.  He  followed  Tonty  to  the  Illinois, 
and  rejoined  him  near  the  site  of  the  great  town. 

The  cliff  called  "  Starved  Rock,"  now  pointed 
out  to  travellers  as  the 'chief  natural  curiosity  of 
the  region,  rises,  steep  on  three  sides  as  a  castle 
wall,  to  the  height  of  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet 
above  the  river.  In  front,  it  overhangs  the  water 
that  washes  its  base  ;  its  western  brow  looks  down 
on  the  tops  of  the  forest  trees  below  ;  and  on  the  east 
lies  a  wide  gorge  or  ravine,  choked  with  the  min- 
gled foliage  of  oaks,  walnuts,  and  elms ;  while  in 
its  rocky  depths  a  little  brook  creeps  down  to 
mingle  with  the  river.  From  the  rugged  trunk  of 
the  stunted  cedar  that  leans  forward  from  the  brink, 
you  may  drop  a  plummet  into  the  river  below,  where 

1  Lettre  de  La  Barre  an  Ministre,  14  Nov.  1682,  MS. 


288  ST.   LOUIS   OF  THE   ILLINOIS.  [1682 

the  cat-fish  and  the  turtles  may  plainly  be  seen 
gliding  over  the  wrinkled  sands  of  the  clear  and 
shallow  current.  The  cliff  is  accessible  only  from 
behind,  where  a  man  may  climb  up,  not  without 
difficulty,  by  a  steep  and  narrow  passage.  The  top 
is  about  an  acre  in  extent.  Here,  in  the  month  of 
December,  La  Salle  and  Tonty  began  to  entrench 
themselves.  They  cut  away  the  forest  that  crowned 
the  rock,  built  storehouses  and  dwellings  of  its  re- 
mains, dragged  timber  up  the  rugged  pathway,  and 
encircled  the  summit  with  a  palisade.1 

1  "  Starved  Rock  "  perfectly  answers  in  every  respect  to  the  indica- 
tions of  the  contemporary  maps  and  documents  concerning  "  Le  Rocher," 
the  site  of  La  Salle's  fort  of  St.  Louis.  It  is  laid  down  on  several  con- 
temporary maps,  besides  the  great  map  of  La  Salle's  discoveries,  made  in 
1684.  They  all  place  it  on  the  south  side  of  the  river  ;  whereas  Buffalo 
Rock,  three  miles  above,  which  has  been  supposed  to  be  the  site  of  the 
fort,  is  on  the  north.  The  rock  fortified  by  La  Salle  stood,  we  are  told, . 
at  the  edge  of  the  water  ;  while  Buffalo  Rock  is  at  some  distance  from  the 
bank.  The  latter  is  crowned  by  a  plateau  of  great  extent,  is  but  sixty 
feet  high,  is  accessible  at  many  points,  and  would  require  a  large  force  to 
defend  it ;  whereas  La  Salle  chose  "  Le  Rocher,"  because  a  few  men  could 
hold  it  against  a  multitude.  Charlevoix,  in  1721,  describes  both  rocks, 
and  says  that  the  top  of  Buffalo  Rock  had  been  occupied  by  the  Miami 
village,  so  that  it  was  known  as  Le  Fort  des  Miamis.  This  explains  the 
Indian  remains  found  here.  He  then  speaks  of  "  Le  Rocher,"  calling  it 
by  that  name ;  says  that  it  is  about  a  league  below  on  the  left  or  south 
side,  forming  a  sheer  cliff,  very  high,  and  looking  like  a  fortress  on  the 
border  of  the  river.  He  saw  remains  of  palisades  at  the  top  which  he 
thinks  were  made  by  the  Illinois  [Journal  Historique,  Let.  xxvii),  though 
his  countrymen  had  occupied  it  only  three  years  before.  "  The  French 
reside  on  the  Rock  (Le  Rocher),  which  is  very  lofty  and  impregnable." 
— Memoir  on  Western  Indians,  1718,  in  N.Y.  Col.  Docs.,  ix.  890.  St.  Cosme, 
passing  this  way  in  1699,  mentions  it  as  "  Le  Vieux  Fort,"  and  says  that 
it  is  "  a  rock  about  a  hundred  feet  high  at  the  edge  of  the  river,  where 
M.  de  la  Salle  built  a  fort,  since  abandoned."  —  Journal  de  St.  Cosme,  MS. 
Joutel,  who  was  here  in  1687,  says,  "  Fort  St.  Louis  is  on  a  steep  rock, 
about  two  hundred  feet  high,  with  the  river  running  at  its  base."  He 
adds,  that  its  only  defences  were  palisades.  The  true  height,  as  stated 
above,  is  about  a  hundred  and  twenty-five  feet. 

A  traditional  interest  also  attaches  to  this  rock.     It  is  said,  that  in 


1682.]  LA   SALLE'S   COLONY.  289 

Thus  the  winter  was  passed,  and  meanwhile  the 
work  of  negotiation  went  prosperously  on.  The 
minds  of  the  Indians  had  been  already  prepared. 
In  La  Salle  they  saw  their  champion  against  the 
Iroquois,  the  standing  terror  of  all  this  region. 
They  gathered  around  his  stronghold  like  the  timor- 
ous peasantry  of  the  middle  ages  around  the  rock- 
built  castle  of  their  feudal  lord.  From  the  wooden 
ramparts  of  St.  Louis,  —  for  so  he  named  his  fort,  — 
high  and  inaccessible  as  an  eagle's  nest,  a  strange 
scene  lay  before  his  eye.  The  broad  flat  valley  of 
the  Illinois  was  spread  beneath  him  like  a  map, 
bounded  in  the  distance  by  its  low  wall  of  woody 
hills.  The  river  wound  at  his  feet  in  devious  chan- 
nels among  islands  bordered  with  lofty  trees  ;  then, 
far  on  the  left,  flowed  calmly  westward  through  the 
vast  meadows,  till  its  glimmering  blue  ribbon  was 
lost  in  hazy  distance. 

There  had  been  a  time,  and  that  not  remote,  when 
these  fair  meadows  were  a  waste  of  death  and  des- 
olation, scathed  with  fire,  and  strewn  with  the 
ghastly  relics  of  an  Iroquois  victory.  Now,  all  was 
changed.  La  Salle  looked  down  from  his  rock  on  a 
concourse  of  wild  human  life.  Lodges  of  bark  and 
rushes,  or  cabins  of  logs,  were  clustered  on  the  open 
plain,  or  along  the  edges  of  the  bordering  forests. 
Squaws  labored,  warriors  lounged  in  the  sun,  naked 
children  whooped  and  gambolled  on  the  grass.    Be- 

the  Indian  wars  that  followed  the  assassination  of  Pontiac,  a  few  years 
after  the  cession  of  Canada,  a  party  of  Illinois,  assailed  by  the  Pottawat- 
tamies,  here  took  refuge,  defying  attack.     At  length  they  were  all  de- 
stroyed by  starvation,  and  hence  the  name  of  "  Starved  Rock." 
For  other  proofs  concerning  this  locality,  see  ante,  p.  221. 
25 


290  LA   SALLE'S   SUCCESS.  [1682. 

yond  the  river,  a  mile  and  a  half  on  the  left,  the 
banks  were  studded  once  more  with  the  lodges  of 
the  niinois,  who,  to  the  number  of  six  thousand, 
had  returned,  since  their  defeat,  to  this  their  favorite 
dwelling-place.  Scattered  along  the  valley,  among 
the  adjacent  hills,  or  over  the  neighboring  prairie, 
were  the  cantonments  of  a  half-score  of  other  tribes, 
and  fragments  of  tribes,  gathered  under  the  pro- 
tecting regis  of  the  French,  —  Shawanoes  from  the 
Ohio,  Abenakis  from  Maine,  Miamis  from  the 
sources  of  the  Kankakee,  with  others  whose  barba- 
rous names  are  hardly  worth   the  record.1      Nor 


1  This  singular  extemporized  colony  of  La  Salle,  on  the  banks  of  the 
Illinois,  is  laid  down  in  detail  on  the  great  map  of  La  Salle's  discoveries, 
by  Jean  Baptiste  Franquelin,  finished  in  1684.  There  can  be  no  doubt 
that  this  part  of  the  work  is  composed  from  authentic  data.  La  Salle 
himself  besides  others  of  his  party,  came  down  from  the  Illinois  in  the 
autumn  of  1683,  and  undoubtedly  supplied  the  young  engineer  with  mate- 
rials. The  various  Indian  villages,  or  cantonments,  are  all  indicated,  with 
the  number  of  warriors  belonging  to  each,  the  aggregate  corresponding 
very  nearly  with  that  of  La  Salle's  report  to  the  minister.  The  Illinois, 
properly  so  called,  are  set  down  at  1,200  warriors ;  the  Miamis,  at  1,300  ; 
the  Shawanoes,  at  200;  the  Ouiatenons  (Weas),  at  500;  the  Peanqhichia 
(Piankishaw)  band,  at  150;  the  Pepikokia,  at  160;  the  Kilatica,  at  300; 
and  the  Ouabona,  at  70 ;  in  all,  3,880  warriors.  A  few  others,  probably 
Abenakis,  lived  in  the  fort. 

The  Fort  St.  Louis  is  placed  on  the  map  at  the  exact  site  of  Starved 
Rock,  and  the  Illinois  village  at  the  place  where,  as  already  mentioned, 
(see  p.  221),  Indian  remains  in  great  quantities  are  yearly  ploughed  up. 
The  Shawanoe  camp,  or  village,  is  placed  on  the  south  side  of  the  river, 
behind  the  fort.  The  country  is  here  hilly,  broken,  and  now,  as  in  La 
Salle's  time,  covered  with  wood,  which,  however,  soon  ends  in  the  open 
prairie.  A  short  time  since,  the  remains  of  a  low,  irregular  earthwork  of 
considerable  extent  were  discovered  at  the  intersection  of  two  ravines, 
about  twenty-four  hundred  feet  behind,  or  south  of,  Starved  Rock.  The 
earthwork  follows  the  line  of  the  ravines  on  two  sides.  On  the  east,  there 
is  an  opening,  or  gateway,  leading  to  the  adjacent  prairie.  The  work  is 
very  irregular  in  form,  and  shows  no  trace  of  the  civilized  engineer.  In 
the  stump  of  an  oak-tree  upon  it,  Dr.  Paul  counted  a  hundred  and  sixty 
rings  of  annual  growth.     The  village  of  the  Shawanoes  (Chaouenons),  on 


1682.]  LA   SALLE'S   COLONY.  291 

were  these  La  Salle's  only  dependants.  By  the 
terms  of  his  patent,  he  held  seigniorial  rights  over 
this  wild  domain  ;  and  he  now  began  to  grant  it  out 
in  parcels  to  his  followers.  These,  however,  were 
as  yet  but  a  score  ;  a  lawless  band,  trained  in  forest 
license,  and  marrying,  as  their  detractors  affirm,  a 
new  squaw  every  day  in  the  week.  This  was  after 
their  lord's  departure,  for  his  presence  imposed  a 
check  on  these  eccentricities. 

La  Salle,  in  a  memoir  addressed  to  the  Minister 
of  the  Marine,  reports  the  total  number  of  the 
Indians  around  Fort  St.  Louis  at  about  four  thousand 
warriors,  or  twenty  thousand  souls.  His  diplomacy 
had  been  crowned  with  a  marvellous  success,  for 
which  his  thanks  were  due,  first,  to  the  Iroquois, 
and  the  universal  terror  they  inspired ;  next,  to  his 
own  address   and  unwearied  energy.     His   colony 

Franquelin's  map,  corresponds  with  the  position  of  this  earthwork.  I  am 
indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Dr.  John  Paul,  and  Colonel  D.  F.  Hitt,  the 
proprietor  of  Starved  Rock,  for  a  plan  of  these  curious  remains,  and  a 
survey  of  the  neighboring  district.  I  must  also  express  my  obligations  to 
Mr.  W.  E.  Bowman,  photographer  at  Ottawa,  for  views  of  Starved  Rock, 
and  other  features  of  the  neighboring  scenery. 

An  interesting  relic  of  the  early  explorers  of  this  region  was  found  a 
few  years  ago  at  Ottawa,  six  miles  above  Starved  Rock,  in  the  shape  of  a 
small  iron  gun,  buried  several  feet  deep  in  the  drift  of  the  river.  It  con- 
sists of  a  welded  tube  of  iron,  about  an  inch  and  a  half  in  calibre,  strength- 
ened by  a  series  of  thick  iron  rings,  cooled  on,  after  the  most  ancient  as 
well  as  the  most  recent  method  of  making  cannon.  It  is  about  fourteen 
inches  long,  the  part  near  the  muzzle  having  been  burst  off.  The  con- 
struction is  very  rude.  Small  field-pieces,  on  a  similar  principle,  were 
used  in  the  fourteenth  century.  Several  of  thern  may  be  seen  at  the 
Musee  d'Artillerie  at  Paris.  In  the  time  of  Louis  XIV.  the  art  of  casting 
cannon  was  carried  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection.  The  gun  in  question 
may  have  been  made  by  a  French  blacksmith  on  the  spot.  A  far  less 
probable  supposition  is,  that  it  is  a  relic  of  some  unrecorded  visit  of  the 
Spaniards ;  but  the  pattern  of  the  piece  would  have  been  antiquated  even 
in  the  time  of  De  Soto. 


292  LA   SALLE'S   SUCCESS.  [1682. 

had  sprung  up,  as  it  were,  in  a  night ;  but  might 
not  a  night  suffice  to  disperse  it? 

The  conditions  of  maintaining  it  were  twofold. 
First,  he  must  give  efficient  aid  to  his  savage 
colonists  against  the  Iroquois  ;  secondly,  he  must 
supply  them  with  French  goods  in  exchange  for 
their  furs.  The  men,  arms,  and  ammunition  for 
their  defence,  and  the  goods  for  trading  with  them, 
must  be  brought  from  Canada,  until  a  better  and 
surer  avenue  of  supply  could  be  provided  through 
the  entrepot  which  he  meant  to  establish  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  Canada  was  full  of  his 
enemies ;  but,  as  long  as  Count  Frontenac  was  in 
power,  he  was  sure  of  support.  Count  Frontenac 
was  in  power  no  longer.  He  had  been  recalled  to 
France  through  the  intrigues  of  the  party  adverse 
to  La  Salle ;  and  Le  Fevre  de  la  Barre  reigned  in 
his  stead.1 

La  Barre  was  an  old  naval  officer  of  rank,  ad- 
vanced to  a  post  for  which  he  proved  himself 
notably  unfit.  If  he  was  without  the  arbitrary 
passions  which  had  been  the  chief  occasion  of  the 
recall  of  his  predecessor,  he  was  no  less  without 
his  energies  and  his  talents.  Frontenac's  absence 
was  not  to  be  permanent :  dark  days  were  in  store 
for  Canada.  In  her  hour  of  need,  she  was  to  hail 
with    delight   the   return    of  the   haughty   noble- 

1  La  Barre  had  formerly  held  civil  offices.  He  had  been  Maitre  de  Re- 
queues, and  afterwards  Intendant  of  the  Bourbonnais.  He  had  gained  no 
little  reputation  in  the  West  Indies,  as  governor  and  lieutenant-general  of 
Cayenne,  which  he  recovered  from  the  English,  who  had  seized  it,  and 
whom  he  soon  after  defeated  in  a  naval  fight.  Sixteen  years  had.  elapsed 
since  these  exploits,  and  meanwhile  he  had  grown  old. 


1683.]  LA  SALLE  AND  LA  BARRE.  293 

man ;  and  all  his  faults  were  to  be  forgotten  in 
the  splendor  of  his  services  to  the  colony  and  the 
crown. 

La  Barre  showed  a  weakness  and  an  avarice  for 
which  his  advanced  age  may  have  been  in  some 
measure  answerable.  He  was  no  whit  less  un- 
scrupulous than  his  predecessor  in  his  secret  vio- 
lation of  the  royal  ordinances  regulating  the  fur- 
trade,  which  it  was  his  duty  to  enforce.  Like 
Frontenac,  he  took  advantage  of  his  position  to 
carry  on  an  illicit  traffic  with  the  Indians ;  but  it 
was  with  different  associates.  The  late  governor's 
friends  were  the  new  governor's  enemies  ;  and  La 
Salle,  armed  with  his  monopolies,  was  the  object 
of  his  especial  jealousy.1 

Meanwhile,  La  Salle,  buried  in  the  western  wil- 
derness, remained  for  the  time  ignorant  of  La 
Barre's  disposition  towards  him,  and  made  an  effort 
to  secure  his  good-will  and  countenance.  He  wrote 
to  him  from  his  Rock  of  St.  Louis,  early  in  the 
spring  of  1683,  expressing  the  hope  that  he  should 
have  from  him  the  same  support  as  from  Count 
Frontenac  ;  "  although,"  he  says,  "  my  enemies  will 
try  to  influence  you  against  me."  His  attachment 
to  Frontenac,  he  pursues,  has  been  the  cause  of 
all  the  late  governor's  enemies  turning  against  him. 

1  The  royal  instructions  to  La  Barre,  on  his  assuming  the  government, 
dated  at  Versailles,  10  May,  1682,  require  him  to  give  no  farther  permis- 
sion to  make  journeys  of  discovery  towards  the  Sioux  and  the  Mississippi, 
as  his  Majesty  thinks  his  subjects  better  employed  in  cultivating  the 
land.  The  letter  adds,  however,  that  La  Salle  is  to  be  allowed  to  continue 
his  discoveries,  if  they  appear  to  be  useful.  The  same  instructions  are 
repeated  in  a  letter  of  the  Minister  of  the  Marine  to  the  new  Intendant  of 
Canada,  De  Meules. 

25* 


294  LA  SALLE'S   SUCCESS.  [1683. 

He  then  recounts  his  voyage  down  the  Mississippi ; 
says  that,  with  twenty-two  Frenchmen,  he  caused 
all  the  tribes  along  the  river  to  ask  for  peace ; 
speaks  of  his  right,  under  the  royal  patent,  to 
build  forts  anywhere  along  his  route,  and  grant 
out  lands  around  them,  as  at  Fort  Frontenac. 

"  My  losses  in  my  enterprises,"  he  continues, 
"  have  exceeded  forty  thousand  crowns.  I  am 
now  going  four  hundred  leagues  south-south-west 
of  this  place,  to  induce  the  Chickasaws  to  follow 
the  Shawanoes,  and  other  tribes,  and  settle,  like 
them,  at  St.  Louis.  It  remained  only  to  settle 
French  colonists  here,  and  this  I  have  already 
done.  I  hope  you  will  not  detain  them  as  coureurs 
de  bois,  when  they  come  down  to  Montreal  to  make 
necessary  purchases.  I  am  aware  that  I  have  no 
right  to  trade  with  the  tribes  who  descend  to  Mon- 
treal, and  I  shall  not  permit  such  trade  to  my  men ; 
nor  have  I  ever  issued  licenses  to  that  effect,  as  my 
enemies  say  that  I  have  done."  1 

Again,  on  the  fourth  of  June  following,  he  writes 
to  La  Barre,  from  the  Chicago  portage,  complain- 
ing that  some  of  his  colonists,  going  to  Montreal 
for  necessary  supplies,  have  been  detained  by  his 
enemies,  and  begging  that  they  may  be  allowed  to 
return,  that  his  enterprise  may  not  be  ruined.  "  The 
Iroquois,"  he  pursues,  "  are  again  invading  the  coun- 
try. Last  year,  the  Miamis  were  so  alarmed  by 
them  that  they  abandoned  their  town  and  fled  ;  but, 


1  Lettre  de  la  Salle  a  La  Barre,  Fort  St.  Louis,  2  Avril,  1683,  MS.     The 
above  is  somewhat  condensed  from  passages  in  the  original. 


1683.]  LA   SALLE  AND   LA  BARRE.  295 

at  my  return,  they  came  back,  and  have  been  in- 
duced to  settle  with  the  Illinois  at  my  fort  of 
St.  Louis.  The  Iroquois  have  lately  murdered 
some  families  of  their  nation,  and  they  are  all  in 
terror  again.  I  am  afraid  they  will  take  flight,  and 
so  prevent  the  Missouries  and  neighboring  tribes 
from  coming  to  settle  at  St.  Louis,  as  they  are  about 
to  do. 

"  Some  of  the  Hurons  and  French  tell  the  Mi- 
amis  that  I  am  keeping  them  here  for  the  Iroquois 
to  destroy.  I  pray  that  you  will  let  me  hear  from 
you,  that  I  may  give  these  people  some  assurances 
of  protection  before  they  are  destroyed  in  my  sight. 
Do  not  suffer  my  men  who  have  come  down  to  the 
settlements  to  be  longer  prevented  from  returning. 
There  is  great  need  here  of  reinforcements.  The 
Iroquois,  as  I  have  said,  have  lately  entered  the 
country  ;  and  a  great  terror  prevails.  I  have  post- 
poned going  to  Michillimackinac,  because,  if  the 
Iroquois  strike  any  blow  in  my  absence,  the  Mi- 
amis  will  think  that  I  am  in  league  with  them ; 
whereas,  if  I  and  the  French  stay  among  them,  they 
will  regard  us  as  protectors.  But,  Monsieur,  it  is  in 
vain  that  we  risk  our  lives  here,  and  that  I  exhaust 
my  means  in  order  to  fulfil  the  intentions  of  his 
Majesty,  if  all  my  measures  are  crossed  in  the 
settlements  below,  and  if  those  who  go  down  to 
bring  munitions,  without  which  we  cannot  defend 
ourselves,  are  detained  under  pretexts  trumped  up 
for  the  occasion.  If  I  am  prevented  from  bringing 
up  men  and  supplies,  as  I  am  allowed  to  do  by  the 
permit  of  Count  Frontenac,  then  my  patent  from  the 


296  LA  SALLE'S   SUCCESS.  [1683. 

king  is  useless.  It  would  be  very  hard  *for  us, 
after  having  done  what  was  required  even  before 
the  time  prescribed,  and  after  suffering  severe  losses, 
to  have  our  efforts  frustrated  by  obstacles  got  up 
designedly. 

"  I  trust  that,  as  it  lies  with  you  alone  to  prevent 
or  to  permit  the  return  of  the  men  whom  I  have  sent 
down,  you  will  not  so  act  as  to  thwart  my  plans.  A 
part  of  the  goods  which  I  have  sent  by  them  belong 
not  to  me,  but  to  the  Sieur  de  Tonty,  and  are  a  part 
of  his  pay.  Others  are  to  buy  munitions  indispen- 
sable for  our  defence.  Do  not  let  my  creditors  seize 
them.  It  is  for  their  advantage  that  my  fort,  full 
as  it  is  of  goods,  should  be  held  against  the  enemy. 
I  have  only  twenty  men,  with  scarcely  a  hundred 
pounds  of  powder ;  and  I  cannot  long  hold  the 
country  without  more.  The  Illinois  are  very  capri- 
cious and  uncertain.  ...  If  I  had  men  enough  to 
send  out  to  reconnoitre  the  enemy,  I  would  have 
done  so  before  this ;  but  I  have  not  enough.  I 
trust  you  will  put  it  in  my  power  to  obtain  more, 
that  this  important  colony  may  be  saved."  1 

While  La  Salle  was  thus  writing  to  La  Barre, 
La  Barre  was  writing  to  Seignelay,  the  Marine  and 
Colonial  Minister,  decrying  his  correspondent's  dis- 
coveries,   and   pretending    to    doubt   their   reality. 


1  Lettre  de  la  Salle,  a  La  Barre,  Portage  de  Ckicagou,  4  Juin,  1683,  MS. 
Portions  of  the  above  extracts  are  condensed  in  the  rendering.  A  long 
passage  is  omitted,  in  which  La  Salle  expresses  his  belief  that  his  vessel, 
the  "  Griffin,"  had  been  destroyed,  not  by  Indians,  but  by  the  pilot,  who, 
as  he  thinks,  had  been  induced  to  sink  her,  and  then,  with  some  of  the 
crew,  attempted  to  join  Du  Lhut  with  their  plunder,  but  were  captured  by 
Indians  on  the  Mississippi. 


1683.]  LA  SALLE  AND  LA  BAKRE.  297 

"  The  Iroquois,"  he  adds,  "  have  sworn  his  [La 
Salle's]  death.  The  imprudence  of  this  man  is 
about  to  involve  the  colony  in  war." J  And  again 
he  writes  in  the  following  spring,  to  say  that  La 
Salle  was  with  a  score  of  vagabonds  at  Green  Bay, 
where  he  set  himself  up  as  a  king,  pillaged  his 
countrymen,  and  put  them  to  ransom  ;  exposed  the 
tribes  of  the  West  to  the  incursions  of  the  Iroquois, — 
and  all  under  pretence  of  a  patent  from  his  Majes- 
ty, the  provisions  of  which  he  grossly  abused ;  but 
as  his  privileges  would  expire  on  the  twelfth  of 
May  ensuing,  he  would  then  be  forced  to  come 
to  Quebec,  where  his  creditors,  to  whom  he  owed 
more  than  thirty  thousand  crowns,  were  anxiously 
awaiting  him.2 

Finally,  when  La  Barre  received  the  two  letters 
from  La  Salle,  of  which  the  substance  is  given 
above,  he  sent  copies  of  them  to  the  Minister 
Seignelay,  with  the  following  comment:  "By  the 
copies  of  the  Sieur  cle  la  Salle's  letters,  you  will 
perceive  that  his  head  is  turned,  and  that  he  has 
been  bold  enough  to  give  you  intelligence  of  a  false, 
discovery.  He  is  trying  to  build  up  an  imaginary 
kingdom  for  himself  by  debauching  all  the  bank- 
rupts and  idlers  of  this  country." 3  Such  calumnies 
had  their  effect.  The  enemies  of  La  Salle  had  al- 
ready gained  the    ear  of  the  king ;   and  he  had 


1  Lettre  de  La  Barre  au  Ministre,  14  Nov.  1682,  MS. 

2  Lettre  de  La  Barre  au  Ministre,  30  Avril,  1683.  La  Salle  had  spent 
the  winter,  not  at  Green  Bay,  as  this  slanderous  letter  declares,  but  in  the 
Illinois  country. 

3  N.Y.  Col.  Docs.,  ix.  204.     The  letter  is  dated  4  Nov.  1683. 


298  LA  SALLE'S   SUCCESS.  [1683. 

written  in  August  from  Fontainebleau  to  his  new 
Governor  of  Canada :  "I  am  convinced,  like  you, 
that  the  discovery  of  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle  is  very 
useless,  and  that  such  enterprises  ought  to  be  pre- 
vented in  future,  as  they  tend  only  to  debauch  the 
inhabitants  by  the  hope  of  gain,  and  to  diminish 
the  revenue  from  beaver-skins." 1 

In  order  to  understand  the  posture  of  affairs  at 
this  time,  it  must  be  remembered  that  Dongan,  the 
English  Governor  of  New  York,  was  urging  on  the 
Iroquois  to  attack  the  Western  tribes,  with  the  ob- 
ject of  gaining,  through  their  conquest,  the  control 
of  the  fur-trade  of  the  interior,  and  diverting  it 
from  Montreal  to  Albany.  The  scheme  was  full 
of  danger  to  Canada,  which  the  loss  of  the  trade 
would  have  ruined.  La  Barre  and  his  associates 
were  greatly  alarmed  at  it.  Its  complete  success 
would  have  been  fatal  to  their  hopes  of  profit ;  but 
they  nevertheless  wished  it  such  a  measure  of  suc- 
cess as  would  ruin  their  rival,  La  Salle.  Hence, 
no  little  satisfaction  mingled  with  their  anxiety, 
when  they  heard  that  the  Iroquois  were  again 
threatening  to  invade  the  Miamis  and  the  Illinois  ; 
and  thus  La  Barre,  whose  duty  it  was  strenuously 
to  oppose  the  intrigue  of  the  English,  and  use 
every  effort  to  quiet  the  ferocious  bands  whom  they 
were  hounding  against  the  Indian  allies  of  the 
French,  was,  in  fact,  but  half-hearted  in  the  work. 
He  cut  off  La  Salle  from  all  supplies ;  detained  the 
men  whom  he  sent  for  succor ;  and,  at  a  confer- 

1  Lcttre  du  Roy  a  La  Barre,  5  Aoust,  1683,  MS. 


1683.]  FORT  FRONTENAC   SEIZED.  299 

ence  with  the  Iroquois,  told  them  that  they  were 
welcome  to  plunder  and  kill  him.1 

The  old  Governor,  and  the  unscrupulous  ring 
with  which  he  was  associated,  now  took  a  step,  to 
which  he  was  doubtless  emboldened  by  the  tone 
of  the  king's  letter,  in  condemnation  of  La  Salle's 
enterprise.  He  resolved  to  seize  Fort  Frontenac, 
the  property  of  La  Salle,  under  the  pretext  that 
the  latter  had  not  fulfilled  the  conditions  of  the 
grant,  and  had  not  maintained  a  sufficient  gar- 
rison.2 Two  of  his  associates,  La  Chesnaye  and 
Le  Ber,  armed  with  an  order  from  him,  went  up 

1  Mdmoire  pour  rendre  compte  a  Monseigneur  le  Marquis  de  Seignelay  de 
I'Etat  ou  le  Sieur  de  Lasalle  a  laisse"  le  Fort  Frontenac  pendant  le  temps  de  sa 
d€couverte,  MS.  The  Marquis  de  Denonville,  La  Barre's  successor  in  the 
government,  says,  in  his  memoir  of  Aug.  10,  1688,  that  La  Barre  had  told 
the  Iroquois  to  plunder  La  Salle's  canoes. 

La  Barre's  course  at  this  time  was  extremely  indirect  and  equivocal. 
The  memoir  to  Seignelay,  cited  above,  declares  —  and  other  documents 
sustain  it  —  that  he  was  playing  into  the  hands  of  the  English,  by  sending 
furs,  on  his  own  account  and  that  of  his  associates,  to  Albany,  where  he 
could  sell  them  at  a  high  rate,  and  at  the  same  time  avoid  the  payment  of 
duties  to  the  French  farmers  of  the  revenue. 

The  merchants,  La  Chesnaye,  Le  Ber,  and  Le  Moyne,  were  at  the  head 
of  the  faction  with  which  La  Barre  had  identified  himself;  and  their  hatred 
of  La  Salle  knew  no  bounds.  If  we  are  to  believe  La  Potherie,  he  him- 
self had  formerly,  in  defence  of  his  monopolies,  told  the  Iroquois  that  they 
might  plunder  the  canoes  of  traders  who  had  not  a  pass  from  him.  The 
adverse  faction  now  retorted  by  adding  the  permission  of  murder  to  the 
permission  of  pillage.  Margry  thinks  that  La  Chesnaye  was  the  prompter 
of  this  villany. 

2  La  Salle,  when  at  Mackinaw,  on  his  way  to  Quebec,  in  1682,  had 
been  recalled  to  the  Illinois,  as  we  have  seen,  by  a  threatened  Iroquois 
invasion.  There  is  before  me  a  copy  of  a  letter  which  he  then  wrote  to 
Count  Frontenac,  begging  him  to  send  up  more  soldiers  to  the  fort  at  his 
(La  Salle's)  expense.  Frontenac,  being  about  to  sail  for  France,  gave  this 
letter  to  his  newly  arrived  successor,  La  Barre,  who,  far  from  complying 
with  the  request,  withdrew  La  Salle's  soldiers  already  at  the  fort,  and 
then  made  its  defenceless  state  a  pretext  for  seizing  it.  This  statement  is 
made  in  the  memoir  addressed  to  Seignelay,  before  cited. 


300  LA  SALLE'S  SUCCESS.  [1683. 

and  took  possession,  despite  the  remonstrances  of 
La  Salle's  creditors  and  mortgagees ;  lived  on  La 
Salle's  stores,  sold  for  their  own  profit,  and  (it  is  said) 
that  of  La  Barre,  the  provisions  sent  by  the  king, 
and  turned  in  the  cattle  to  pasture  on  the  growing 
crops.  La  Forest,  La  Salle's  lieutenant,  was  told 
that  he  might  retain  the  command  of  the  fort,  if  he 
would  join  the  associates ;  but  he  refused,  and 
sailed  hi  the  autumn  for  France.1 

Meanwhile,  La  Salle  remained  at  the  Illinois 
in  extreme  embarrassment,  cut  off  from  supplies, 
robbed  of  his  men  who  had  gone  to  seek  them, 
and  disabled  from  fulfilling  the  pledges  he  had  given 
to  the  surrounding  Indians.  Such  was  his  position, 
when  reports  came  to  Fort  St.  Louis  that  the  Iro- 
quois were  at  hand.  The  Indian  hamlets  were 
wild  with  terror,  beseeching  him  for  succor  which 
he  had  no  power  to  give.  Happily,  the  report 
proved  false.  No  Iroquois  appeared  ;  the  threat- 
ened attack  was  postponed,  and  the  summer  passed 
away  in  peace.  But  La  Salle's  position,  with  the 
Governor  his  declared  enemy,  was  intolerable  and 
untenable  ;  and  there  was  no  resource  but  in  the 
protection  of  the  court.  Early  in  the  autumn,  he 
left  Tonty  in  command  of  the  Rock,  bade  farewell 
to  his  savage  retainers,  and  descended  to  Quebec, 
intending  to  sail  for  France. 

On  his  way,  he  met  the  Chevalier  de  Baugis,  an 
officer  of  the  king's  dragoons,"  commissioned  by 
La  Barre  to  take  possession  of  Fort  St.  Louis,  and 

1  These  are  the  statements  of  the  memorial,  addressed  in  La  Salle's 
behalf,  to  the  minister  Seignelay. 


1683.]  LA   SALLE   SAILS  FOR  FRANCE.  301 

bearing  letters  from  the  Governor,  ordering  La 
Salle  to  come  to  Quebec ;  a  superfluous  command, 
as  he  was  then  on  his  way  thither.  He  smothered 
his  wrath,  and  wrote  to  Tonty  to  receive  De  Baugis 
well.  The  Chevalier  and  his  party  proceeded  to  the 
Illinois,  and  took  possession  of  the  fort;  De  Baugis 
commanding  for  the  Governor,  while  Tonty  re- 
mained as  representative  of  La  Salle.  The  two 
officers  spent  the  winter  harmoniously ;  and,  with 
the  return  of  spring,  each  found  himself  in  sore 
need  of  aid  from  the  other.  Towards  the  end  of 
March,  the  Iroquois  attacked  their  citadel,  and 
besieged  it  for  six  days,  but  at  length  withdrew, 
discomfited,  carrying  with  them  a  number  of  In- 
dian prisoners,  most  of  whom  escaped  from  their 
clutches.1 

Meanwhile,  La  Salle  had  sailed  for  France,  and 
thither  we  will  follow  him. 


1  Tonty,  Me'moire,  MS. ;  Lettre  de  La  Barre,  au  Ministre,  5  Juin,  1684 ; 
Ibid.,  9  Juillet,  1684,  MSS. 


26 


INtlRAU. 

PTATB  tUCHIW  COUmOfii 

OANTA   5AWBARA,  CALIFORNIA 

/-QSV^ 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

1684. 
A  NEW  ENTERPRISE. 

La  Salle  at  Court.  —  His  Proposals. — Occupation  of  Louisiana. — 
Invasion  of  Mexico.  —  Royal  Favor.  —  Preparation. — The  Naval 
Commander. — His  Jealousy  of  La  Salle. —  Dissensions. 

From  the  wilds  of  the  Illinois, — crag,  forest,  and 
prairie,  squalid  wigwams,  and  naked  savages,  —  La 
Salle  crossed  the  sea ;  and  before  him  rose  the 
sculptured  wonders  of  Versailles,  that  world  of 
gorgeous  illusion  and  hollow  splendor,  where  Louis 
the  Magnificent  held  his  court.  Amid  its  pomp  of 
weary  ceremonial,  its  glittering  masquerade  of  vice 
and  folly,  its  carnival  of  vanity  and  pride,  stood  the 
man  whose  home  for  sixteen  years  had  been  the 
wilderness,  his  bed  the  earth,  his  roof  the  sky,  and 
his  companions  a  rude  nature  and  ruder  men.  In 
all  that  throng  of  hereditary  nobles,' there  was  none 
of  a  prouder  spirit  than  the  son  of  the  burgher  of 
Rouen. 

He  announced  what  he  had  achieved  in  words 
of  energetic  simplicity,  more  impressive  than  all 
the  tinsel  of  rhetoric.1     He  had  friends  near  the 


1  Witness  the  following.  He  speaks  of  himself  in  the  third  person. 
"  To  acquit  himself  of  the  commission  with  which  he  was  charged,  he 
has  neglected  all  his  private  affairs,  because  they  were  alien  to  his  enter- 


1684.]  LA    SALLE'S  PEOPOSALS.  303 

court,  —  Count  Frontenac  was  one  of  them,  —  and 
he  gained  the  ear  of  the  colonial  minister.  There 
was  a  wonderful  change  in  the  views  of  the  court 
towards  him.  The  great  Colbert  had  lately  died, 
bequeathing  to  his  son  Seignelay,  his  successor  in 
the  control  of  the  Marine  and  Colonies,  some  of 
his  talents,  and  all  of  his  harshness  and  violence. 
Seignelay  entered  with  vigor  into  the  schemes  of 
La  Salle,  and  commended  them  to  the  king,  his 
master.  The  memorial,  in  which  these  schemes 
are  set  forth,  is  still  preserved,  as  well  as  another 
memorial  designed  to  prepare  the  way  for  it ;  and 
the  following  is  the  substance  of  them. 

The  preliminary  document  states  that  the  late 
Monseigneur  Colbert  was  of  opinion  that  it  was 
important  for  the  service  of  his  Majesty  to  dis- 
cover a  port  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  that  to  this 
end  the  memorialist,  La  Salle,  made  five  journeys 
of  upwards  of  five  thousand  leagues,  in  great  part 
on  foot ;  and  traversed  more  than  six  hundred 
leagues  of  unknown  country,  among  savages  and 

prise ;  he  has  omitted  nothing  that  was  needful  to  its  success,  notwith- 
standing dangerous  illness,  heavy  losses,  and  all  the  other  evils  he  has 
suffered,  which  would  have  overcome  the  courage  of  any  one  who  had 
not  the  same  zeal  and  devotion  for  the  accomplishment  of  this  purpose. 
During  five  years  he  has  made  five  journeys,  of  more,  in  all,  than  five 
thousand  leagues,  for  the  most  part  on  foot,  with  extreme  fatigue,  through 
snow  and  through  water,  without  escort,  without  provisions,  without 
bread,  without  wine,  without  recreation,  and  without  repose.  He  has 
traversed  more  than  six  hundred  leagues  of  country  hitherto  unknown, 
among  savage  and  cannibal  nations,  against  whom  he  must  daily  make 
fight,  though  accompanied  only  by  thirty-six  men,  and  consoled  only  by 
the  hope  of  succeeding  in  an  enterprise  which  he  thought  would  be 
agreeable  to  his  Majesty." 

See  the  original,  as  printed  by  Margry,  Journal  G€n€ral  de  V Instruction 
PuUique,  xxxi.  699. 


304  A  NEW  ENTERPRISE.  [1684. 

cannibals,  at  the  cost  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  thou- 
sand crowns.  He  now  proposes  to  return  by  way 
of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  to  the  countries  he  has 
discovered,  whence  great  benefits  may  be  expected  ; 
first,  the  cause  of  God  may  be  advanced  by  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  many  Indian  tribes ; 
and,  secondly,  great  conquests  may  be  effected  for 
the  glory  of  the  king,  by  the  seizure  of  provinces 
rich  in  silver  mines,  and  defended  only  by  a  few 
indolent  and  effeminate  Spaniards.  The  Sieur  de 
la  Salle,  pursues  the  memorial,  binds  himself  to 
accomplish  this  enterprise  within  one  year  after 
his  arrival  on  the  spot;  and  he  asks  for  this 
purpose  only  one  vessel  and  two  hundred  men, 
with  their  arms,  munitions,  pay,  and  maintenance. 
When  Monseigneur  shall  direct  him,  he  will  give 
the  details  of  what  he  proposes.  The  memorial 
then  describes  the  boundless  extent,  the  fertility 
and  resources  of  the  country  watered  by  the  River 
Colbert,  or  Mississippi ;  the  necessity  of  guarding 
it  against  foreigners,  who  will  be  eager  to  seize  it 
now  that  La  Salle's  discovery  has  made  it  known ; 
and  the  ease  with  which  it  may  be  defended  by 
one  or  two  forts  at  a  proper  distance  above  its 
mouth,  which  would  form  the  key  to  an  interior 
region  eight  hundred  leagues  in  extent.  ';  Should 
foreigners  anticipate  us,"  he  adds,  "  they  will  com- 
plete the  ruin  of  New  France,  which  they  already 
hem  in  by  their  establishments  of  Virginia,  Penn- 
sylvania, New  England,  and  Hudson's  Bay."  l 

1  Me~moire  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle,  pour  rendre  compte  a  Monseigneur  de  Seig- 
nelay  de  la  de'couverte  qu'il  afaite  par  I'ordre  de  sa  Majesty,  MS. 


1684.]  LA   SALLE'S   PROPOSALS.  305 

The  second  memorial  is  more  explicit.  The 
place,  it  says,  which  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle  proposes 
to  fortify,  is  on  the  River  Colbert,  or  Mississippi, 
sixty  leagues  above  its  mouth,  where  the  land  is 
very  fertile,  the  climate  very  mild,  and  whence  we, 
the  French,  may  control  the  continent ;  since,  the 
river  being  narrow,  we  could  defend  ourselves  by 
means  of  fire-ships  against  a  hostile  fleet,  while  the 
position  is  excellent  both  for  attacking  an  enemy 
or  retreating  in  case  of  need.  The  neighboring 
Indians  detest  the  Spaniards,  but  love  the  French, 
having  been  won  over  by  the  kindness  of  the  Sieur 
de  la  Salle.  We  could  form  of  them  an  army  of 
more  than  fifteen  thousand  savages,  who,  supported 
by  the  French  and  Abenakis,  followers  of  the  Sieur 
de  la  Salle,  could  easily  subdue  the  province  of 
New  Biscay  (the  most  northern  province  of  Mex- 
ico), where  there  are  but  four  hundred  Spaniards, 
more  fit  to  work  the  mines  than  to  fight.  On  the 
north  of  New  Biscay  lie  vast  forests,  extending 
to  the  River  Seignelay1  (Red  River),  which  is  but 
forty  or  fifty  leagues  from  the  Spanish  province. 
This  river  affords  the  means  of  attacking  it  to 
great  advantage. 

In  view  of  these  facts,  pursues  the  memorial,  the 
Sieur  de  la  Salle  offers,  if  the  war  with  Spain  con- 
tinues, to  undertake  this  conquest  with  two  hundred 
men  from  France.  He  will  take  on  his  way  fifty 
buccaneers   at  St.    Domingo,  and  direct  the   four 

1  This  name,  also  given  to  the  Illinois,  is  used  to  designate  Red  River 
on  the  map  of  Franquelin,  where  the  forests  above  mentioned  are  repre- 
sented. 

26* 


306  A  NEW  ENTERPRISE.  [1684. 

thousand  Indian  warriors  at  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the 
Illinois  to  descend  the  river  and  join  him.  He 
will  separate  his  force  into  three  divisions,  and 
attack  on  the  same  day  the  centre  and  the  two 
extremities  of  the  province.  To  accomplish  this 
great  design,  he  asks  only  for  a  vessel  of  thirty  guns, 
a  few  cannon  for  the  forts,  and  power  to  raise  in 
France  two  hundred  such  men  as  he  shall  think 
fit,  to  be  armed,  paid,  and  maintained  at  the  king's 
charge,  for  a  term  not  exceeding  a  year,  after  which 
they  will  form  a  self-sustaining  colony.  And  if  a 
treaty  of  peace  should  prevent  us  from  carrying 
our  conquest  into  present  execution,  we  shall  place 
ourselves  in  a  favorable  position  for  effecting  it  on 
the  outbreak  of  the  next  war  with  Spain.1 

Such,  in  brief,  was  the  substance  of  this  sin- 
gular proposition.  And,  first,  it  is  to  be  observed 
that  it  is  based  on  a  geographical  blunder,  the 
nature  of  which  is  explained  by  the  map  of  La 
Salle's  discoveries  made  in  this  very  year.  Here, 
the  River  Seignelay,  or  Red  River,  is  represented 
as  running  parallel  to  the  northern  border  of  Mexico, 
and  at  no  great  distance  from  it ;  the  region  now 
called  Texas  being  almost  entirely  suppressed. 
According  to  the  map,  New  Biscay  might  be  reached 
from  this  river  in  a  few  days  ;  and,  after  crossing  the 
intervening  forests,  the  coveted  mines  of  Ste.  Barbe, 
or  Santa  Barbara,  would  be  within  striking  dis- 
tance.2    That  La  Salle  believed  in  the  possibility 

1  M€moire  du  Sr-  de  la  Salle  sur  V Entreprise  qu'il  a  propos€a  Monseigneur 
le  Marquis  de  Seignelay  sur  une  des  provinces  de  Mexique,  MS. 

2  Both  the  memorial  and  the  map  represent  the  bank3  of  Red  River, 


1684.]  THE   SCHEME   OF  INVASION.  307 

of  invading  the  Spanish  province  of  New  Biscay 
from  the  Red  River,  there  can  be  no  donbt ;  neither 
can  it  reasonably  be  doubted  that  he  hoped  at  some 
future  day  to  make  the  attempt ;  and  yet  it  is  in- 
credible that  he  proposed  his  plan  of  conquest  with 
the  serious  intention  of  attempting  to  execute  it  at 
the  time  and  in  the  manner  which  he  indicates. 
He  was  a  bold  schemer,  but  neither  a  madman  nor 
a  fool.  The  project,  as  set  forth  in  his  memorial, 
bears  all  the  indications  of  being  drawn  up  with 
the  view  of  producing  a  certain  effect  on  the  minds 
of  the  king  and  the  minister.  Ignorant  as  they 
were  of  the  nature  of  the  country  and  the  char- 
acter of  its  inhabitants,  they  could  see  nothing 
impracticable  in  the  plan  of  mustering  and  keeping 
together  an  army  of  fifteen  thousand  Indians.1 

La  Salle's  immediate  necessity  was  to  obtain  from 
the  court  the  means  for  establishing  a  fort  and  a 
colony  within  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  This 
was  essential  to  his  own  commercial  plans ;  nor 

as  inhabited  by  Indians,  called  Terliquiquimechi,  and  known  to  the 
Spaniards  as  Indios  bravos,  or  Indios  de  guerra.  The  Spaniards,  it  is 
added,  were  in  great  fear  of  them,  as  they  made  frequent  inroads  into 
Mexico.  La  Salle's  Mexican  geography  was  in  all  respects  confused  and 
erroneous  ;  nor  was  Seignelay  better  informed.  Indeed,  Spanish  jealousy 
placed  correct  information  beyond  their  reach. 

1  While  the  plan,  as  proposed  in  the  memorial,  was  clearly  imprac- 
ticable, the  subsequent  experience  of  the  French  in  Texas  tended  to  prove 
that  the  tribes  of  that  region  could  be  used  with  advantage  in  attacking 
the  Spaniards  of  Mexico,  and  that  an  inroad,  on  a  comparatively  small 
scale,  might  have  been  successfully  made  with  their  help.  In  1689,  Tonty 
actually  made  the  attempt,  as  we  shall  see,  but  failed  from  the  desertion 
of  his  men.  In  1697,  the  Sieur  de  Louvigny  wrote  to  the  Minister  of  the 
Marine,  asking  to  complete  La  Salle's  discoveries,  and  invade  Mexico 
from  Texas.  —  Lettrede  M.  de  Louvigny,  14  Oct.  1697,  MS.  In  an  unpub- 
lished memoir  of  the  year  1700,  the  seizure  of  the  Mexican  mines  is  given 
as  one  of  the  motives  of  the  colonization  of  Louisiana. 


308  A  NEW   ENTERPRISE.  [1684 

did  he  in  the  least  exaggerate  the  value  of  such  an 
establishment  to  the  French  nation,  and  the  im- 
portance of  anticipating  other  powers  in  the  posses- 
sion of  it.  But  he  needed  a  more  glittering  lure  to 
attract  the  eyes  of  Louis  and  Seignelay ;  and  thus, 
it  would  appear,  he  held  before  them,  in  a  definite 
and  tangible  form,  the  project  of  Spanish  conquest 
which  had  haunted  his  imagination  from  youth, 
trusting  that  the  speedy  conclusion  of  peace,  which 
actually  took  place,  would  absolve  him  from  the 
immediate  execution  of  the  scheme,  and  give  him 
time,  with  the  means  placed  at  his  disposal,  to 
mature  his  plans  and  prepare  for  eventual  action. 
Such  a  procedure  may  be  charged  with  indirectness  ; 
but  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  wily  and  poli- 
tic element  from  which  the  iron  nature  of  La  Salle 
was  not  free,  but  which  was  often  defeated  in  its 
aims  by  other  elements  of  his  character. 

Even  with  this  madcap  enterprise  lopped  off, 
La  Salle's  scheme  of  Mississippi  trade  and  coloniza- 
tion, perfectly  sound  in  itself,  was  too  vast  for  an 
individual ;  above  all,  for  one  crippled  and  crushed 
with  debt.  While  he  grasped  one  link  of  the  great 
chain,  another,  no  less  essential,  escaped  from  his 
hand ;  while  he  built  up  a  colony  on  the  Missis- 
sippi, it  was  reasonably  certain  that  evil  would 
befall  his  distant  colony  of  the  Illinois. 

The  glittering  project  which  he  now  unfolded 
found  favor  in  the  eyes  of  the  king  and  the  minis- 
ter ;  for  both  were  in  the  flush  of  an  unparalleled 
success,  and  looked  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  for 
nothing  but  triumphs.     They  granted  more  than 


1684.]  LA  BARRE   REBUKED.  309 

the  petitioner  asked,  as  indeed  they  well  might, 
if  they  expected  the  accomplishment  of  all  that 
he  proposed  to  attempt.  La  Forest,  La  Salle's  lieu- 
tenant, ejected  from  Fort  Frontenac  by  La  Barre, 
was  now  at  Paris ;  and  he  was  despatched  to 
Canada,  empowered  to  reoccupy,  in  La  Salle's 
name,  both  Fort  Frontenac  and  Fort  St.  Louis 
of  the  Illinois.  The  king  himself  wrote  to  La 
Barre  in  a  strain  that  must  have,  sent  a  cold  thrill 
through  the  veins  of  that  official.  "  I  hear,"  he 
says,  "  that  you  have  taken  possession  of  Fort  Fron- 
tenac, the  property  of  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,  driven 
away  his  men,  suffered  his  land  to  run  to  waste, 
and  even  told  the  Iroquois  that  they  might  seize 
him  as  an  enemy  of  the  colony."  He  adds,  that, 
if  this  is  true,  he  must  make  reparation  for  the 
wrong,  and  place  all  La  Salle's  property,  as  well 
as  his  men,  in  the  hands  of  the  Sieur  de  la  Forest, 
"  as  I  am  satisfied  that  Fort  Frontenac  was  not 
abandoned,  as  you  wrote  to  me  that  it  had  been."  l 
Four  days  later,  he  wrote  to  the  Intendant  of 
Canada,  De  Meules,  to  the  effect  that  the  bearer, 
La  Forest,  is  to  suffer  no  impediment,  and  that 
La  Barre  is  to  surrender  to  him,  without  reserve, 
all  that  belongs  to  La  Salle.2  Armed  with  this 
letter,  La  Forest  sailed  for  Canada.3 

1  Lettre  du  Roy  a  la  Barre,  Versailles,  10  Avril,  1684,  MS. 

2  Lettre  du  Roy  a  De  Meules,  Versailles,  14  Avril,  1684.  Seignelay  wrote 
to  De  Meules  to  the  same  effect. 

3  On  La  Forest's  mission,  —  Me'moire  pour  representor  a  Monsei(/neur  le 
Marquis  de  Seignelay  In  necessite'  d'envoyer  le  Sr-  de  la  Forest  en  diligence  a 
la  Nouvelle  France,  MS.  ;  Lettre  du  Roy  a  la  Barre,  14  Avril,  1684,  MS.  ; 
Ibid.,  31  Oct.  1684,  MS. 

There  is  before  me  a  promissory  note  of  La  Salle  to  La  Forest,  of  5,200 


310  A  NEW  ENTERPRISE.  [1684. 

La  Salle  had  asked  for  two  vessels,1  and  four 
were*  given  to  him.  Agents  were  sent  to  Rochelle 
and  Rochefort  to  gather  recruits.  A  hundred  sol- 
diers were  enrolled,  besides  mechanics  and  labor- 
ers ;  and  thirty  volunteers,  including  gentlemen  and 
burghers  of  condition,  joined  the  expedition.  And, 
as  the  plan  was  one  no  less  of  colonization  than  of 
war,  several  families  embarked  for  the  new  land 
of  promise,  as  well  as  a  number  of  girls,  lured  by 
the  prospect  of  almost  certain  matrimony.  Nor 
were  missionaries  wanting.  Among  them  was  La 
Salle's  brother,  Cavelier,  and  two  other  priests  of 
St.  Sulpice.  Three  Recollets  were  added :  Zenobe 
Membre,  who  was  then  in  France ;  Anastase 
Douay,  and  Maxime  Le  Clercq.  Including  sol- 
diers, sailors,  and  colonists  of  all  classes,  the  num- 
ber embarked  was  about  two  hundred  and  eighty. 
The  principal  vessel  was  the  "  Joly,"  belonging  to  the 
royal  navy,  and  carrying  thirty-six  guns.  Another 
armed  vessel  of  six  guns  was  added,  together  with 
a  store-ship  and  a  ketch. 

In  an  evil  hour,  the  naval  command  of  the  expe- 
dition was  given  to  Beaujeu,  a  captain  of  the  royal 
navy,  who  was  subordinated  to  La  Salle  in  every 

livres,  dated  at  Rochelle,  17  July,  1684.  This  seems  to  be  pay  due  to  La 
Forest,  who  had  served  as  La  Salle's  officer  for  nine  years.  A  memoran- 
dum is  attached,  signed  by  La  Salle,  to  the  effect,  that  it  is  his  wish  that 
La  Forest  reimburse  himself,  "  par  preference,"  out  of  any  property  of  his, 
La  Salle's,  in  France  or  Canada. 

1  Le  Sieur  de  la  Salle  demande,  MS.  This  is  the  caption  of  the  memo- 
rial, in  which  he  states  what  is  required  ;  viz.,  a  war  vessel  of  thirty  guns, 
pay  and  maintenance  of  two  hundred  men  for  a  year  at  farthest,  tools, 
munitions,  cannon  for  the  forts,  a  small  vessel  in  pieces,  the  furniture  of 
two  chapels,  a  forge,  with  a  supply  of  iron,  weapons  for  his  followers  and 
allies,  medicines,  &c. 


1684.]  DISCONTENT  OF  BEAUJEU.  311 

thing  but  the  management  of  the  vessels  at  sea.1 
He  had  his  full  share  of  the  arrogant  and  scornful 
spirit  which  marked  the  naval  service  of  Louis 
XIV.,  joined  to  the  contempt  for  commerce  which 
belonged  to  the  noblesse  of  France,  but  which  did 
not  always  prevent  them  from  dabbling  in  it  when 
they  could  do  so  with  secrecy  and  profit.  He  was 
unspeakably  galled ,  that  a  civilian  should  be  placed 
over  him,  and  he,  too,  a  burgher  recently  ennobled. 
La  Salle  was  far  from  being  the  man  to  soothe  his 
ruffled  spirit.  Bent  on  his  own  designs,  asking  no 
counsel,  and  accepting  none  ;  detesting  a  divided 
authority,  impatient  of  question,  cold,  reserved,  and 
impenetrable, — he  soon  wrought  his  colleague  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  exasperation.  While  the  vessels 
still  lay  at  Rochelle ;  while  all  was  bustle  and  prep- 
aration ;  while  stores,  arms,  and  munitions  were 
embarking ;  while  faithless  agents  were  gathering 
beggars  and  vagabonds  from  the  streets  to  serve  as 
soldiers  and  artisans,  —  Beaujeu  was  giving  vent  to 
his  disgust  in  long  letters  to  the  minister. 

He  complains  that  the  vessels  are  provisioned 
only  for  six  months,  and  that  the  voyage  to  the 
river  which  La  Salle  claims  to  have  discovered, 
and  again  back  to  France,  cannot  be  made  in  that 
time.  If  La  Salle  had  told  him  at  the  first  what 
was  to  be  done,  he  could  have  provided  accord- 
ingly ;  but  now  it  is  too  late.  "  He  says,"  pursues 
the  indignant  commander,  "  that  there  are  fourteen 

1  Lettre  de  Cachet  a  Mr-  de  la  Salle,  Versailles,  12  Avril,  1684,  sign€, 
Louis,  MS. 


312  A  NEW   ENTERPRISE.  [1684. 

passengers,  besides  the  Sieur  Minet,1  to  sit  at  my 
table.  I  hope  that  a  fund  will  be  provided  for 
them,  and  that  I  shall  not  be  required  to  support 
them." 

"  You  have  ordered  me,  Monseigneur,"  he  con- 
tinues, "  to  give  all  possible  aid  to  this  undertaking, 
and  I  shall  do  so  to  the  best  of  my  power ;  but 
permit  me  to  take  great  credit  to  myself,  for  I  find 
it  very  hard  to  submit  to  the  orders  of  the  Sieur 
de  la  Salle,  whom  I  believe  to  be  a  man  of  merit, 
but  who  has  no  experience  of  war,  except  with 
savages,  and  who  has  no  rank,  while  I  have  been 
captain  of  a  ship  thirteen  years,  and  have  served 
thirty,  by  sea  and  land.  Besides,  Monseigneur,  he 
has  told  me  that,  in  case  of  his  death,  you  have 
directed  that  the  Sieur  de  Tonty  shall  succeed  him. 
This,  indeed,  is  very  hard  ;  for,  though  I  am  not 
acquainted  with  that  country,  I  should  be  very 
dull,  if,  being  on  the  spot,  I  did  not  know,  at  the 
end  of  a  month,  as  much  of  it  as  they  do.  I  beg, 
Monseigneur,  that  I  may  at  least,  share  the  com- 
mand with  them ;  and  that,  as  regards  war,  nothing 
may  be  done  without  my  knowledge  and  concur- 
rence ;  for,  as  to  their  commerce,  I  neither  intend 
nor  desire  to  know  any  thing  about  it." 2 

In  another  letter,  he  says  :  "  He  [La  Salle]  is  so 
suspicious,  and  so  fearful  that  somebody  will  pen- 
etrate his  secrets,  that  I  dare  not  ask  him  any 
thing."  And,  again,  he  complains  of  being  placed 
in  subordination  to  a  man  "  who  never  commanded 

1  One  of  the  engineers  of  the  expedition. 

2  Lettre  de  Beaujeu  au  Ministre,  Rochelle,  30  Mai,  1684,  MS. 


1684.]  JOUTEL.  313 

anybody  but  school-boys." 1  "  I  pray,"  he  continues, 
"  that  my  orders  may  be  distinct  and  explicit,  that 
I  may  not  be  held  answerable  for  what  may  happen 
in  consequence  of  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle's  exercising 
command." 

He  soon  fell  into  a  dispute  with  him  with  respect 
to  the  division  of  command  on  board  the  "  Joly," 
Beaujeu  demanding,  and  it  may  be  thought  with 
good  reason,  that,  when  at  sea,  his  authority 
should  include  all  on  board  ;  while  La  Salle  in- 
sisted that  only  the  sailors,  and  not  the  soldiers, 
should  be  under  his  orders.  "  Though  this  is  a 
very  important  matter,"  writes  Beaujeu,  "  we  have 
not  quarrelled,  but  have  referred  it  to  the  In- 
tendant."  2 

While  these  ill-omened  bickerings  went  on,  the 
various  members  of  the  expedition  were  mustering 
at  Rochelle.  Joutel,  a  fellow-townsman  of  La 
Salle,  returning  to  his  native  Rouen,  after  sixteen 
years  of  service  in  the  army,  found  all  astir  with 
the  new  project.  His  father  had  been  gardener  to 
La  Salle's  uncle,  Henri  Cavelier  ; 3  and,  being  of  an 
adventurous  spirit,  he  was  induced  to  volunteer  for 

1  "  Qui  n'a  jamais  commande  qu'a  des  ecoliers."  —  Lettre  de  Beaujeu 
au  Ministre,  21  Juin,  1684,  MS.  It  appears  from  Hennepin  that  La  Salle 
was  very  sensitive  to  any  allusion  to  a  "  pe'dant,"  or  pedagogue. 

2  Lettre  de  Beaujeu  an  Ministre,  25  Juin,  1684,  MS.  Arnoult,  the  In- 
tendant  at  Rochelle,  had  received  the  king's  orders  to  aid  the  enterprise. 
In  a  letter  to  La  Salle,  dated  14  April,  and  enclosing  his  commission,  the 
king  tells  him  that  Beaujeu  is  to  command  the  working  of  the  ship,  la 
manccitvre,  suhject  "to  his  direction.  Louis  XIV.  seems  to  have  taken  no 
little  interest  in  the  enterprise.  He  tells  La  Barre  in  one  of  his  letters 
that  La  Salle  is  a  man  whom  he  has  taken  under  his  special  protection. 

3  At  the  modest  wages  of  fifty  francs  a  year  and  his  maintenance.  — 
Family  papers  found  by  Margry. 

27 


314  A  NEW  ENTERPRISE.  [1684. 

the  enterprise,  of  which,  he  was  to  become  the  his- 
torian. With  La  Salle's  brother,  the  priest,  and 
two  of  his  nephews,  of  whom  one  was  a  boy  of 
fourteen,  besides  several  others  of  his  acquaintance, 
Joutel  set  out  for  Rochelle,  where  all  were  to  em- 
bark together  for  their  promised  land.1 

1  Joutel,  Journal  Historique,  12. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

1684-1685. 

LA  SALLE  LN  TEXAS. 

Departure.  —  Quarrels   with   Beaujeu.  —  St.    Domingo.  —  La    Salle 

ATTACKED  WITH   FEVER.  —  HlS   DESPERATE   CONDITION.  —  The  GULF  OF 

Mexico.  —  A  Fatal  Error.  —  Landing.  —  Wreck  of  the  "  Aimable." 
—  Indian  Attack.  —  Treachery  of  Beaujeu.  —  Omens  of  Dis- 
aster. 

The  four  ships  sailed  on  the  twenty-fourth  of 
July  ;  but  the  "  Joly  "  soon  broke  her  bowsprit,  and 
they  were  forced  to  put  back.1  On  the  first  of 
August,  they  again  set  sail.  La  Salle,  with  the 
principal  persons  of  the  expedition,  and  a  crowd  of 
soldiers,  artisans,  and  women,  the  destined  mothers 
of  Louisiana,  were  all  on  board  the  "  Joly."  Beau- 
jeu wished  to  touch  at  Madeira :  La  Salle,  for 
excellent  reasons,  refused ;  and  hence  there  was 
great  indignation  among  passengers  and  crew. 
The  surgeon  of  the  ship  spoke  with  insolence  to 
La  Salle,  who  rebuked  him,  whereupon  Beaujeu 
took  up  the  word  in  behalf  of  the  offender,  saying 
that  the  surgeon  was,  like  himself,  an  officer  of  the 

1  La  Salle  believed  that  this  mishap,  which  took  place  in  good 
weather,  was  intentional.  —  Me'moire  axdog  raphe  del' Abb€  Jean  Cavelier  sur 
le  Voyage  de  1684,  MS.     Compare  Joutel,  15. 


316  LA   SALLE  IN   TEXAS.  [1684. 

king.1  When  they  crossed  the  tropic,  the  sailors 
made  ready  a  tub  on  deck  to  baptize  the  passengers, 
after  the  villanous  practice  of  the  time  ;  but  La  Salle 
refused  to  permit  it,  to  the  disappointment  and 
wrath  of  all  the  crew,  who  had  expected  to  extort 
a  bountiful  ransom,  in  money  and  liquor,  from  their 
victims.  There  was  an  incessant  chafing  between 
the  two  commanders  ;  and  when  at  length,  after  a 
long  and  wretched  voyage,  they  reached  St.  Do- 
mingo, Beaujeu  showed  clearly  that  he  was,  to  say 
the  least,  utterly  indifferent  to  the  interests  of  the 
expedition.  La  Salle  wished  to  stop  at  Port  de 
Paix,  where  he  was  to  meet  the  Marquis  de  St. 
Laurent,  Lieutenant- General  of  the  Islands  ;  Begon, 
the  Intendant ;  and  De  Cussy,  Governor  of  the 
Island  of  La  Tortue,  —  who  had  orders  from  the 
king  to  supply  him  with  provisions,  and  give  him 
all  possible  assistance.  Beaujeu  had  consented  to 
stop  here;2  but  he  nevertheless  ran  by  the  place 
in  the  night,  and,  to  the  extreme  vexation  of  La 
Salle,  cast  anchor  on  the  twenty-seventh  of  Sep- 
tember, at  Petit  Goave,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
island. 

The  "  Joly "  was  alone ;  the  other  vessels  had 
lagged  behind.     She  had  more  than  fifty  sick,  men 

1  "  Le  capitaine  du  batiment,  qui  avait  en  deux  autres  occasions  assez 
fait  connoitre  qu'il  etoit  mecontent  de  ce  que  son  autorite'  e'toit  partage'e, 
prit  la  parole,  disant  au  dit  Sr-  de  la  Salle  que  le  chirurgien  etoit  officiei' 
du  roi  comnie  lui."  — Me'molre  autographe  de  l'Abb€  Jean  Cavelier,  MS. 

2  "  C'est  la  (au  Port  de  Paix)  ou  Mr-  de  Beaujeu  etait  convenu  de 
s'arreter. ''  —  Me'moire  autographe  de  V Abbe'  Jean  Cavelier.  Joutel  says  that 
this  was  resolved  on  at  a  council  held  on  board  the  "  Joly,"  and  that  a 
Proces  Verbal  to  that  effect  was  drawn  up. — Journal  Hislorique,  22. 


1684.]  ILLNESS   OF   LA  SALLE.  317 

on  board,  and  La  Salle  was  of  the  number.  He 
despatched  a  messenger  to  St.  Laurent,  Begon,  and 
Cussy,  begging  them  to  join  him,  commissioned 
Joutel  to  get  the  sick  ashore,  suffocating  as  they 
were  in  the  hot  and  crowded  ship,  and  caused  the 
soldiers  to  be  landed  on  a  small  island  in  the  harbor. 
Scarcely  had  the  voyagers  sung  Te  JDeum  for  their 
safe  arrival,  when  two  of  the  lagging  vessels  ap- 
peared, bringing  the  disastrous  tidings  that  the  third, 
the  ketch  "  St.  Francois,"  had  been  taken  by  the 
Spaniards.  She  was  laden  with  munitions,  tools, 
and  other  necessaries  for  the  colony ;  and  the  loss 
was  irreparable.  Beaujeu  was  answerable  for  it ; 
for,  had  he  followed  his  instructions,  and  anchored 
at  Port  de  Paix,  it  would  not  have  occurred.  The 
Lieutenant- General,  with  Begon  and  Cussy,  who 
had  arrived,  on  La  Salle's  request,  plainly  spoke 
their  minds  to  him.1 

Meanwhile,  La  Salle's  illness  rose  to  a  violent 
fever.  He  lay  delirious  in  a  wretched  garret  in 
the  town,  attended  by  his  brother,  and  one  or  two 
others  who  stood  faithful  to  him.  A  goldsmith  of 
the  neighborhood,  moved  at  his  deplorable  con- 
dition, offered  the  use  of  his  house ;  and  the  Abbe 
Cavelier  had  him  removed  thither.  But  there  was 
a  tavern  hard  by,  and  the  patient  was  tormented 
with  daily  and  nightly  riot.  At  the  height  of  the 
fever,  a  party  of  Beaujeu's  sailors  spent  a  night 
in  singing  and  dancing  before  the  house ;  and,  says 
Cavelier,  "  The  more  we  begged  them  to  be  quiet, 

1  Joutel,  Journal  Historique,  28. 

27* 


318  LA   SALLE   IN  TEXAS.  [1681. 

the  more  noise  they  made."  La  Salle  lost  reason 
and  well-nigh  life  ;  but  at  length  his  mind  resumed 
its  balance,  and  the  violence  of  the  disease  abated. 
A  friendly  Capucin  friar  offered  him  the  shelter 
of  his  roof;  and  two  of  his  men  supported  him 
thither  on  foot,  giddy  with  exhaustion  and  hot  with 
fever.  Here  he  found  repose,  and  was  slowly  re- 
covering, when  some  of  his  attendants  rashly  told 
him  of  the  loss  of  the  ketch  "  St.  Francois  ;  "  and  the 
consequence  was  a  critical  return  of  the  disease.1 

There  was  no  one  to  fill  his  place  ;  Beaujeu 
would  not ;  Cavelier  could  not.  Joutel,  the  gar- 
dener's son,  was  apparently  the  most  trusty  man 
of  the  company ;  but  the  expedition  was  virtually 
without  a  head.  The  men  roamed  on  shore,  and 
plunged  into  every  excess  of  debauchery,  contract- 
ing diseases  which  eventually  killed  them. 

Beaujeu,  in  the  extremity  of  ill  humor,  resumed 
his  correspondence  with  Seignelay.  "  But  for  the 
illness  of  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle,"  he  writes,  "  I 
could  not  venture  to  report  to  you  the  progress  of 
our  voyage,  as  I  am  charged  only  with  the  navi- 
gation, and  he  with  the  secrets ;  but  as  his  malady 
has  deprived  him  of  the  use  of  his  faculties,  both 
of  body  and  mind,  I  have  thought  myself  obliged 
to  acquaint  you  with  what  is  passing,  and  of  the 
condition  in  which  we  are." 

He  then  declares  that  the  ships  freighted  by  La 
Salle  were  so  slow,  that  the  "  Joly  "  had  continually 
been  forced  to  wait  for  them,  thus  doubling  the 

1  The  above  particulars  are  from  the  unpublished  memoir  of  La  Salle's 
brother,  the  Abbe  Cavelier,  already  cited. 


1C84.]  COMPLAINTS   OF  BEAUJEU.  319 

length  of  the  voyage  ;  that  he  had  not  had  water 
enough  for  the  passengers,  as  La  Salle  had  not  told 
him  that  there  were  to  be  any  such  till  the  day 
they  came  on  board  ;  that  great  numbers  were  sick, 
and  that  he  had  told  La  Salle  there  would  be 
trouble,  if  he  filled  all  the  space  between  decks 
with  his  goods,  and  forced  the  soldiers  and  sailors 
to  sleep  on  deck ;  that  he  had  told  him  he  would 
get  no  provisions  at  St.  Domingo,  but  that  he  in- 
sisted on  stopping ;  that  it  had  always  been  so ; 
that,  whatever  he  proposed,  La  Salle  would  refuse, 
alleging  orders  from  the  king;  "and  now,"  pursues 
the  ruffled  commander,  "  everybody  is  ill ;  and  he 
himself  has  a  violent  fever,  as  dangerous,  the  sur- 
geon tells  me,  to  the  mind  as  to  the  body." 

The  rest  of  the  letter  is  in  the  same  strain.  He 
says  that  a  day  or  two  after  La  Salle's  illness  began, 
his  brother  Cavelier  came  to  ask  him  to  take 
charge  of  bis  affairs ;  but  that  he  did  not  wish  to 
meddle  with  them,  especially  as  nobody  knows 
any  thing  about  them,  and  as  La  Salle  has  sold 
some  of  the  ammunition  and  provisions ;  that  Cav- 
elier tells  him  that  he  thinks  his  brother  keeps  no 
accounts,  wishing  to  hide  his  affairs  from  every- 
body ;  that  he  learns  from  buccaneers  that  the 
entrance  of  the  Mississippi  is  very  shallow  and 
difficult,  and  that  this  is  the  worst  season  for  navi- 
gating the  Gulf;  that  the  Spaniards  have  in  these 
seas  six  vessels  of  from  thirty  to  sixty  guns  each, 
besides  row-galleys ;  but  that  he  is  not  afraid,  and 
will  perish,  or  bring  back  an  account  of  the  Missis- 
sippi.    "  Nevertheless,"  he  adds,  "  if  the  Sieur  de 


320  LA   SALLE   IN   TEXAS.  [1684. 

la  Salle  dies,  I  shall  pursue  a  course  different  from 
that  which  he  has  marked  out ;  for  his  plans  are 
not  good." 

"  If,"  he  continues,  "  you  permit  me  to  speak  my 
mind,  M.  de  la  Salle  ought  to  have  been  satisfied 
with  discovering  his  river,  without  undertaking  to 
conduct  three  vessels  with  troops  two  thousand 
leagues  through  so  many  different  climates,  and 
across  seas  entirely  unknown  to  him.  I  grant  that 
he  is  a  man  of  knowledge ;  that  he  has  reading, 
and  even  some  tincture  of  navigation ;  but  there  is 
so  much  difference  between  theory  and  practice, 
that  a  man  who  has  only  the  former  will  always 
be  at  fault.  There  is  also  a  great  difference  be- 
tween conducting  canoes  on  lakes  and  along  a 
river,  and  navigating  ships  with  troops  on  distant 
oceans." * 

It  was  near  the  end  of  November  before  La  Salle 
could  resume  the  voyage.  Beaujeu  had  been  heard 
to  say,  that  he  would  wait  no  longer  for  the  store- 
ship  "  Aimable,"  and  that  she  might  follow  as  she 
could.2  La  Salle  feared  that  he  would  abandon 
her ;  and  he  therefore  embarked  in  her  himself, 
with  his  friend  Joutel,  his  brother  Cavelier,  Mem- 

1  "  Si  vous  me  permettez  de  dire  mon  sentiment,  M.  de  la  Salle  de- 
vait  se  contenter  d'avoir  de'couvert  sa  riviere,  sans  se  charger  de  conduire 
trois  vaisseanx  et  des  troupes  a  deux  mille  lieues  au  travers  de  tant  de 
climats  differents  et  par  des  mers  qui  lui  e'taient  tout  a  fait  inconnues.  Je 
demeure  d'accord  qu'il  est  savant,  qu'il  a  de  la  lecture,  et  raeme  quelque 
teinture  de  la  navigation.  Mais  il  y  a  tant  de  difference  entre  la  the'orie 
et  la  pratique,  qu'un  homme  qui  n'aura  que  celle-la  s'y  trompera  toujours. 
II  y  a  aussi  bieu  de  la  difference  entre  conduire  des  canots  sur  des  lacs  et 
le  long  d'une  riviere  et  mener  des  vaisseaux  et  des  troupes  dans  des  mers 
si  eloignees."  —  Lettre  de  Beaujeu  au  Ministre,  20  Oct.  1G84,  MS. 

2  Me'tnoire  autographe  de  I'Abbf  Jean  Cavelier,  MS. 


1684.]  THE   GULF   OF  MEXICO.  321 

bre,  Douay,  and  others,  the  trustiest  of  his  fol- 
lowers. On  the  twenty-fifth,  they  set  sail ;  the 
"Jo-ly"  and  the  little  frigate  "Belle"  following. 
They  coasted  the  shore  of  Cuba,  and  landed  at  the 
Isle  of  Pines,  where  La  Salle  shot  an  alligator, 
which  the  soldiers  ate ;  and  the  hunters  brought 
in  a  wild  pig,  half  of  which  he  sent  to  Beaujeu. 
Then  they  advanced  to  Cape  St.  Antoine,  where 
bad  weather  and  contrary  winds  long  detained 
them.  A  load  of  cares  oppressed  the  mind  of  La 
Salle,  pale  and  haggard  with  recent  illness,  wrapped 
within  his  own  thoughts,  seeking  sympathy  from 
none.  The  feud  of  the  two  commanders  still  ran- 
kled beneath  the  veil  of  formal  courtesy  with 
which  men  of  the  world  hide  their  dislikes  and 
enmities. 

At  length,  they  entered  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  that 
forbidden  sea,  whence  by  a  Spanish  decree,  dating 
from  the  reign  of  Philip  II.,  all  foreigners  were 
excluded  on  pain  of  extermination.1  Not  a  man 
on  board  knew  the  secrets  of  its  perilous  naviga- 
tion. Cautiously  feeling  their  way,  they  held  a 
northerly  course,  till,  on  the  twenty-eighth  of  De- 
cember, a  sailor  at  the  mast-head  of  the  "  Aimable" 
saw  land.  La  Salle  and  all  the  pilots  had  been 
led  to  form  an  exaggerated  idea  of  the  force  of 
the  easterly  currents ;  and  they  therefore  supposed 
themselves  near  the  Bay  of  Appalache,  when,  in 
fact,  they  were  much  farther  westward.  At  their 
right  lay  a  low  and  sandy  shore,  washed  by  break- 

1  Letter  of  Don  Luis  cle  Onis  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  American  State 
Papers,  xii.  27,  31. 


322  LA   SALLE   IX   TEXAS.  [1685. 

ers,  which  made  the  landing  dangerous.  La  Salle 
had  taken  the  latitude  of  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi, but  could  not  determine  the  longitude.  On 
the  sixth  of  January,  the  "  Aimable "  seems  to 
have  been  very  near  it ;  but  his  attempts  to  recon- 
noitre the  shore  were  frustrated  by  the  objections 
of  the  pilot  of  the  vessel,  to  which,  with  a  fatal 
facility,  very  unusual  with  him,  he  suffered  himself 
to  yield.1  Still  convinced  that  the  Mississippi  was 
to  the  westward,  he  coasted  the  shores  of  Texas. 
As  Joutel,  with  a  boat's  crew,  was  vainly  trying  to 
land,  a  party  of  Indians  swam  out  through  the  surf, 
and  were  taken  on  board ;  but  La  Salle  could  learn 
nothing  from  them,  as  their  language  was  wholly 
unknown  to  him.  The  coast  began  to  trend  south- 
ward. They  saw  that  they  had  gone  too  far. 
Joutel  again  tried  to  land,  but  the  surf  that  lashed 
the  sand-bars  deterred  him.  He  approached  as 
near  as  he  dared,  and,  beyond  the  intervening 
breakers,  saw  vast  plains  and  a  dim  expanse  of 
forests  ;  the  shaggy  buffalo  running  with  their 
heavy  gallop  along  the  shore,  and  troops  of  deer 
grazing  on  the  marshy  meadows. 

A  few  days  after,  he  succeeded  in  reaching  the 
shore  at  a  point  not  far  south  of  Matagorda  Bay. 
The  aspect  of  the  country  was  not  cheering ;  sandy 
plains  and  shallow  ponds  of  salt  water,  full  of 
wild  ducks  and  other  fowl.     The  sand  was  thickly 

i  Joutel,  45.  He  places  the  date  on  the  tenth,  but  elsewhere  corrects 
himself.  La  Salle  himself  says,  "  La  hauteur  nous  a  fait  remarquer  .  .  . 
que  ce  que  nous  avons  vue,  le  sixieme  Janvier,  estoit  en  effet  la  principale 
entree  de  la  riviere  que  nous  cherchions."  —  Leltre  de  la  Salle  au  Ministre, 
4  Mars,  1685. 


1685.]  BEHAVIOR  OF  BEAUJEU.  323 

marked  with  the  hoof-prints  of  deer  and  buffalo  ; 
and  they  saw  them  in  the  distance,  but  could  kill 
none.  They  had  been  for  many  days  separated 
from  the  "  Joly,"  when  at  length,  to  La  Salle's  great 
relief,  she  hove  in  sight ;  but  his  joy  was  of  short 
duration.  Beaujeu  sent  D'Aire,  his  lieutenant,  on 
board  the  "  Aimable,"  to  charge  La  Salle  with 
having  deserted  him.  The  desertion  in  fact  was 
his  own ;  for  he  had  stood  out  to  sea,  instead  of 
coasting  the  shore,  according  to  the  plan  agreed 
on.  Now  ensued  a  discussion  as  to  their  position. 
Had  they  in  fact  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Missis- 
sippi; and,  granting  that  they  had,  how  far  had 
they  left  it  behind  %  La  Salle  was  confident  that 
they  had  passed  it  on  the  sixth  of  January,  and 
he  urged  Beaujeu  to  turn  back  with  him  in  quest 
of  it.  Beaujeu  replied  that  he  had  not  provisions 
enough,  and  must  return  to  France  without  delay, 
unless  La  Salle  would  supply  him  from  his  own 
stores.  La  Salle  offered  him  provisions  for  fifteen 
days,  which  was  more  than  enough  for  the  additional 
time  required  ;  but  Beaujeu  remained  perverse  arid 
impracticable,  and  would  neither  consent  nor  re- 
fuse. La  Salle's  men  beguiled  the  time  with 
hunting  on  shore ;  and  he  had  the  courtesy,  very 
creditable  under  the  circumstances,  to  send  a  share 
of  the  game  to  his  colleague. 

Time  wore  on.  La  Salle  grew  impatient,  and 
landed  a  party  of  men,  under  his  nephew  Moran- 
get  and  his  townsman  Joutel,  to  explore  the  adjacent 
shores.  They  made  their  way  on  foot  northward 
and  eastward  for  several  days,  till  thpy  were  stopped 


324  LA  SALLE  IN  TEXAS.  [1685. 

by  a  river  too  wide  and  deep  to  cross.  They  en- 
camped, and  were  making  a  canoe,  when,  to  their 
great  joy,  for  they  were  famishing,  they  descried 
the  ships,  which  had  followed  them  along  the  coast. 
La  Salle  landed,  and  became  convinced  —  his  wish, 
no  doubt,  fathering  the  thought  —  that  the  river 
was  no  other  than  the  stream  now  called  Bayou 
Lafourche,  which  forms  a  western  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi.1  He  thought  it  easier  to  ascend  by 
this  passage  than  to  retrace  his  course  along  the 
1  coast,  against  the  winds,  the  currents,  and  the  ob- 
stinacyof  Beaujeu.  Eager,  moreover,  to  be  rid  of 
that  refractory  commander,  he  resolved  to  disem- 
bark his  followers,  and  despatch  the  "  Joly "  back 
to  France. 

The   Bay  of  St.   Louis,    now  Matagorda   Bay,2 

1  La  Salle  dates  his  letter  to  Seignelay,  of  the  fourth  of  March  :  "  A 
l' embouchure occidentale  dufleuve  Colbert"  (Mississippi).  He  says,  "La  saison 
etant  tres-avancee,  et  voyant  qu'il  me  restoit  fort  peu  de  temps  pour 
achever  l'entreprise  dont  j'estois  charge,  je  resolus  de  remonter  ce  canal  du 
fleuve  Colbert,  plus  tost  que  de  retouruer  au  plus  considerable,  eloigne  de 
25  a  30  lieues  d'icy  vers  le  nord-est,  que  nous  avions  remarque  des  le 
sixieine  Janvier,  mais  que  nous  n'avions  pu  reconnoistre,  croyant  sur  le 
rapport  des  pilotes  du  vaisseau  de  sa  Majeste  et  des  nostres,  n'avoir  pas 
encore  passe  la  baye  du  Saint-Esprit "  (Mobile  Bay).  He  adds  that  the 
difficulty  of  returning  to  the  principal  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  had  caused 
him  "  prendre  le  party  de  remonter  le  fleuve  par  icy."  This  fully  ex- 
plains the  reason  of  La  Salle's  landing  on  the  coast  of  Texas,  which  would 
otherwise  have  been  a  postponement,  not  to  say  an  abandonment,  of  the 
main  object  of  the  enterprise.  He  believed  himself  at  the  western  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi ;  and  he  meant  to  ascend  it,  instead  of  going  by  sea  to  the 
principal  mouth.  About  half  the  length  of  Bayou  Lafourche  is  laid  down 
on  Franquelin's  map  of  1684  ;  and  this,  together  with  La  Salle's  letter  and 
the  statements  of  Joutel,  plainly  shows  the  nature  of  his  error. 

2  The  St.  Bernard's  Bay  of  old  maps.  La  Salle,  in  his  letter  to  Seig- 
nelay of  4  March,  says,  that  it  is  in  latitude  twenty-eight  degrees  and 
eighteen  or  twenty  minutes.  This  answers  to  the  entrance  of  Matagorda 
Bay. 

In  the  Archives  de  la  Marine  is  preserved  a  map  made  by  an  engineer 


1685.]  ALARM  FROM  INDIANS.  325 

forms  a  broad  and  sheltered  harbor,  accessible 
from  the  sea  by  a  narrow  passage,  obstructed  by 
sand-bars,  and  by  the  small  island  now  called 
Pelican  Island.  La  Salle  prepared  to  disembark 
on  the  western  shore,  near  the  place  which  now 
bears  his  name ;  and,  to  this  end,  the  "  Aimable  " 
and  the  "  Belle "  must  be  brought  over  the  bar. 
Boats  were  sent  to  sound  and  buoy  out  the  channel, 
and  this  was  successfully  accomplished  on  the  six- 
teenth of  February.  The  "  Aimable  "  was  ordered 
to  enter;  and,  on  the  twentieth,  she  weighed  anchor. 
La  Salle  was  on  shore  watching  her.  A  party  of 
men,  at  a  little  distance,  were  cutting  down  a  tree 
to  make  a  canoe.  Suddenly,  some  of  them  ran 
towards  him  with  terrified  faces,  crying  out  that 
they  had  been  set  upon  by  a  troop  of  Indians,  who 
had  seized  their  companions  and  carried  them  off. 
La  Salle  ordered  those  about  him  to  take  their 
arms,  and  at  once  set  out  in  pursuit.  He  overtook 
the  Indians,  and  opened  a  parley  with  them ;  but 
when  he  wished  to  reclaim  his  men,  he  discovered 
that  they  had  been  led  away  during  the  conference 
to  the  Indian  camp,  a  league  and  a  half  distant. 
Among  them  was  one  of  his  lieutenants,  the  young 
Marquis  de  la  Sablonniere.  He  was  deeply  vexed, 
for  the  moment  was  critical ;  but  the  men  must  be 

of  the  expedition,  inscribed  Minuty  del,  and  entitled  Entree  da  lac  oil  on 
a  laiss€  le  Sieur  de  la  Salle.  It  represents  the  entrance  of  Matagorda 
Bay,  the  camp  of  La  Salle  on  the  left,  the  Indian  camps  on  the  borders  of 
the  bay,  the  "  Belle  "  lying  safely  at  anchor  within,  the  "  Aimable " 
stranded  near  the  island  at  the  entrance,  and  the  "  Joly  "  anchored  in  the 
open  sea. 

At  Versailles,  Salle  des  Marines,  there  is  a  good  modern  picture  of 
the  landing  of  La  Salle  in  Texas. 

28 


326  LA  SALLE  LN  TEXAS.  [1685. 

recovered,  and  he  led  his  followers  in  haste  towards 
the  camp.  Yet  he  could  not  refrain  from  turning 
a  moment  to  watch  the  "  Aimable,"  as  she  neared 
the  shoals  ;  and  he  remarked  with  deep  anxiety  to 
Joutel,  who  was  with  him,  that  if  she  held  that 
course  she  would  soon  be  aground. 

They  hurried  on  till  they  saw  the  Indian  huts. 
About  fifty  of  them,  oven-shaped,  and  covered  with 
mats  and  hides,  were  clustered  on  a  rising  ground, 
with  their  inmates  gathered  among  and  around 
them.  As  the  French  entered  the  camp,  there 
was  the  report  of  a  cannon  from  the  seaward. 
The  startled  savages  dropped  flat  with  terror.  A 
different  fear  seized  La  Salle,  for  he  knew  that  the 
shot  was  a  signal  of  disaster.  Looking  back,  he 
saw  the  "  Aimable  "  furling  her  sails,  and  his  heart 
sank  with  the  conviction  that  she  had  struck  upon 
the  reef.  Smothering  his  distress, — she  was  laden 
with  all  the  stores  of  the  colony,  —  he  pressed  for- 
ward among  the  filthy  wigwams,  whose  astonished 
inmates  swarmed  about  the  band  of  armed  strangers, 
staring  between  curiosity  and  fear.  La  Salle  knew 
those  with  whom  he  was  dealing,  and,  without 
ceremony,  entered  the  chief's  lodge  with  his  fol- 
lowers. The  crowd  closed  around  them,  naked 
men  and  half-naked  women,  described  by  Joutel 
as  of  a  singular  ugliness.  They  gave  buffalo-meat 
and  dried  porpoise  to  the  unexpected  guests ;  but 
La  Salle,  racked  with  anxiety,  hastened  to  close 
the  interview ;  and,  having  without  difficulty  re- 
covered the  kidnapped  men,  he  returned  to  the 
beach,  leaving  with  the  Indians,  as  usual,  an  im- 
pression of  good-will  and  respect. 


1685]  WRECK  OF   THE   "AIMABLE."  327 

When  he  reached  the  shore,  he  saw  his  worst 
fears  realized.  The  "  Aimable  "  lay  careened  over 
on  the  reef,  hopelessly  aground.  Little  remained 
but  to  endure  the  calamity  with  firmness,  and  to 
save,  as  far  as  might  be,  the  vessel's  cargo.  This 
was  no  easy  task.  The  boat  which  hung  at  her  stern 
had  been  stove  in,  —  it  is  said,  by  design.  Beau- 
jeu  sent  a  boat  from  the  "  Joly,"  and  one  or  more 
Indian  pirogues  were  procured.  La  Salle  urged 
on  his  men  with  stern  and  patient  energy ;  a  quan- 
tity of  gunpowder  and  flour  was  safely  landed ;  but 
now  the  wind  blew  fresh  from  the  sea,  the  waves 
began  to  rise,  a  storm  came  on,  the  vessel,  rocking 
to  and  fro  on  the  sand-bar,  opened  along  her  side, 
the  ravenous  waves  were  strewn  with  her  treasures ; 
and,  when  the  confusion  was  at  its  height,  a  troop 
of  Indians  came  down  to  the  shore,  greedy  for 
plunder.  The  drum  was  beat ;  the  men  were 
called  to  arms ;  La  Salle  set  his  trustiest  followers 
to  guard  the  gunpowder,  in  fear,  not  of  the  Indians 
alone,  but  of  his  own  countrymen.  On  that  lam- 
entable night,  the  sentinels  walked  their  rounds 
through  the  dreary  bivouac  among  the  casks,  bales, 
and  boxes  which  the  sea  had  yielded  up  ;  and 
here,  too,  their  fate-hunted  chief  held  his  drearier 
vigil,  encompassed  with  treachery,  darkness,  and 
the  storm. 

Those  who  have  recorded  the  disaster  of  the 
"  Aimable  "  affirm  that  she  was  wilfully  wrecked,1 

1  This  is  said  by  Joutel  and  Le  Clercq,  and  by  La  Salle  himself,  in  his 
letter  to  Seignelay,  4  March,  1685,  as  well  as  in  the  account  of  the  wreck 
drawn  up  officially.  —  Proces  verbal  die  Sieur  de  la  Salle  sur  le  naufrage  de  la 


328  LA   SALLE   IN   TEXAS.  [1685. 

an  atrocious  act  of  revenge  against  a  man  whose 
many  talents  often  bore  for  him  no  other  fruit 
than  the  deadly  one  of  jealousy  and  hate. 

The  neighboring  Bracamos  Indians  still  hovered 
about  them,  with  very  doubtful  friendship :  and,  a 
few  days  after  the  wreck,  the  prairie  was  seen  on 
fire.  As  the  smoke  and  flame  rolled  towards  them 
before  the  wind,  La  Salle  caused  all  the  grass  about 
the  camp  to  be  cut  and  carried  away,  and  especially 
around  the  spot  where  the  powder  was  placed.  The 
danger  was  averted  ;  but  it  soon  became  known  that 
the  Indians  had  stolen  a  number  of  blankets  and 
other  articles,  and  carried  them  to  their  wigwams. 
Unwilling  to  leave  his  camp,  La  Salle  sent  his 
nephew  Moranget  and  several  other  volunteers, 
with  a  party  of  men,  to  reclaim  them.  They  went 
up  the  bay  in  a  boat,  landed  at  the  Indian  camp, 
and,  with  more  mettle  than  discretion,  marched  into 
it,  sword  in  hand.  The  Indians  ran  off,  and  the  rash 
adventurers  seized  upon  several  canoes  as  an  equiva- 
lent for  the  stolen  goods.  Not  knowing  how  to 
manage  them,  they  made  slow  progress  on  their  way 
back,  and  were  overtaken  by  night  before  reaching 
the  French  camp.    They  landed,  made  a  fire,  placed 


flute  I'Aimdble  a  Pembouchure  du  Fleuve  Colbert,  IIS.  He  charges  it,  as  do  also 
the  others,  upon  Aigron,  the  pilot  of  the  vessel,  the  same  who  had  prevented 
him  from  exploring  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi  on  the  sixth  of  January. 
The  charges  are  supported  by  explicit  statements,  which  render  them 
probable.  The  loss  was  very  great,  including  nearly  all  the  beef  and 
other  provisions,  60  barrels  of  wine,  4  pieces  of  cannon,  1,620  balls,  400 
grenades,  4,000  pounds  of  iron,  5,000  pounds  of  lead,  most  of  the  black- 
smith's and  carpenter's  tools,  a  forge,  a  mill,  cordage,  boxes  of  arms, 
nearly  all  the  medicines,  most  of  the  baggage  of  the  soldiers  and  colo- 
nists, and  a  variety  of  miscellaneous  goods. 


1685.]  THE  ABANDONED   COLONY.  329 

a  sentinel,  and  lay  down  on  the  dry  grass  to  sleep. 
The  sentinel  followed  their  example ;  when  sud- 
denly they  were  awakened  by  the  war-whoop  and 
a  shower  of  arrows.  Two  volunteers,  Oris  and 
Desloges,  were  killed  on  the  spot ;  a  third,  named 
Gayen,  was  severely  wounded ;  and  young  Moranget 
received  an  arrow  through  the  arm.  He  leaped  up 
and  fired  his  gun  at  the  vociferous  but  invisible  foe. 
Others  of  the  party  did  the  same,  and  the  Indians 
fled. 

This  untoward  incident,  joined  to  the  loss  of  the 
store-ship,  completed  the  discouragement  of  some 
among  the  colonists.  Several  of  them,  including 
one  of  the  priests  and  the  engineer  Minet,  declared 
their  intention  of  returning  home  with  Beaujeu,  who 
apparently  made  no  objection  to  receiving  them. 
He  now  declared  that  since  the  Mississippi  was 
found,  his  work  was  done,  and  he  would  return 
to  France.  La  Salle  desired  that  he  would  first 
send  on  shore  the  cannon-balls  and  stores  embarked 
for  the  use  of  the  colony.  Beaujeu  refused,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  stowed  so  deep  in  the  hold 
that  to  take  them  out  would  endanger  the  ship. 
The  excuse  is  itself  a  confession  of  gross  mis- 
management. Remonstrance  would  have  availed 
little.  Beaujeu  spread  his  sails  and  departed,  and 
the  wretched  colony  was  left  to  its  fate. 

Was  Beaujeu  deliberately  a  traitor,  or  was  his 
conduct  merely  a  result  of  jealousy  and  pique? 
There  can  be  little  doubt  that  he  was  guilty  of  pre- 
meditated bad  faith.  There  is  evidence  that  he 
knew  the  expedition  to  have  passed  the  true  mouth 

28* 


330  LA  SALLE   IN   TEXAS.  [1685. 

of  the  Mississippi,  and  that,  after  leaving  La  Salle, 
he  sailed  in  search  of  it,  found  it,  and  caused  a 
map  to  be  made  of  it.1 

A  lonely  sea,  a  wild  and  desolate  shore,  a  weary 
waste  of  marsh  and  prairie ;  a  rude  redoubt  of 
drift-wood,  and  the  fragments  of  a  wreck ;  a  few 
tents,  and  a  few  wooden  hovels  ;  bales,  boxes,  casks, 
spars,  dismounted  cannon,  Indian  canoes,  a  pen  for 
fowls  and  swine,  groups  of  dejected  men  and  de- 
sponding, homesick  women,  —  this  was  the  forlorn 
reality  to  which  the  air-blown  fabric  of  an  audacious 
enterprise  had  sunk.  Here  were  the  conquerors 
of  New  Biscay ;  they  who  were  to  hold  for  France 
a  region  as  large  as  the  half  of  Europe.  Here 
was  the  tall  form  and  the  fixed  calm  features  of 
La  Salle.  Here  were  his  two  nephews,  the  hot- 
headed Moranget,  still  suffering  from  his  wound, 
and  the  younger  Cavelier,  a  mere  school-boy.  Con- 
spicuous only  by  his  Franciscan  garb  was  the  small 
slight  figure  of  Zenobe  Membre.  His  brother  friar, 
Anastase  Douay ;  the  trusty  Joutel,  a  man  of  sense 


1  This  map,  the  work  of  the  engineer  Minet,  bears  the  date  of  May, 
1685.  La  Salle's  last  letter  to  the  minister,  which  he  sent  home  by  Beau- 
jeu,  is  dated  March  4th.  Hence,  Beaujeu,  in  spite  of  his  alleged  want  of 
provisions,  seems  to  have  remained  some  time  in  the  Gulf.  The  signi- 
ficance of  the  map  consists  in  two  distinct  sketches  of  the  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi,  which  is  styled  "  La  Riviere  du  Srde  la  Salle."  Against  one 
of  these  sketches  are  written  the  words  "  Embouchure  de  la  riviere 
comme  M.  de  la  Salle  la  marque  dans  sa  carte."  Against  the  other,  "  Costes 
et  lacs  par  la  hauteur  de  sa  riviere,  comme  nous  les  avons  trouve's."  The  italics 
are  mine.  Both  sketches  plainly  represent  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi, 
and  the  river  as  high  as  New  Orleans,  with  the  Indian  villages  upon  it. 
The  coast  line  is  also  indicated  as  far  east  as  Mobile  Bay.  My  attention 
was  first  drawn  to  this  map  by  M.  Margry.  It  is  in  the  Archives  Scienti- 
fiques  de  la  Marine. 


1685.]  INDIAN  ENEMIES.  331 

and  observation ;  the  Marquis  de  la  Sablonniere,  a 
debauched  noble  whose  patrimony  was  his  sword  ; 
and  a  few  of  less  mark,  —  comprised  the  leaders  of 
the  infant  colony.  The  rest  were  soldiers,  recruited 
from  the  scum  of  Kochelle  and  Rochefort ;  and  arti- 
sans, of  whom  the  greater  part  knew  nothing  of 
their  pretended  vocation.  Add  to  these  the  misera- 
ble families  and  the  infatuated  young  women,  who 
had  come  to  tempt  fortune  in  the  swamps  and 
cane-brakes  of  the  Mississippi. 

La  Salle  set  out  to  explore  the  neighborhood. 
Joutel  remained  in  command  of  the  so-called  fort. 
He  was  beset  with  wily  enemies,  and  often  at  night 
the  Indians  would  crawl  in  the  grass  around  his 
feeble  stockade,  howling  like  wolves ;  but  a  few 
shots  would  put  them  to  flight.  A  strict  guard  was 
kept,  and  a  wooden  horse  was  set  in  the  enclosure, 
to  punish  the  sentinel  who  should  sleep  at  his  post. 
They  stood  in  daily  fear  of  a  more  formidable  foe, 
and  once  they  saw  a  sail,  which  they  doubted  not 
was  Spanish ;  but  she  happily  passed  without  dis- 
covering them.  They  hunted  on  the  prairies,  and 
speared  fish  in  the  neighboring  pools.  On  Easter 
day,  the  Sieur  le  Gros,  one  of  the  chief  men  of 
the  company,  went  out  after  the  service  to  shoot 
snipes ;  but,  as  he  walked  barefoot  through  the 
marsh,  a  snake  bit  him,  and  he  soon  after  died. 
Two  men  deserted,  to  starve  on  the  prairie,  or  to 
become  savages  among  savages.  Others  tried  to 
escape,  but  were  caught ;  and  one  of  them  was 
hung.  A  knot  of  desperadoes  conspired  to  kill 
Joutel ;  but  one  of  them  betrayed  the  secret,  and 
the  plot  was  crushed. 


332  LA   SALLE   IN   TEXAS.  [1685. 

La  Salle  returned  from  his  journey.  He  had 
made  an  ominous  discovery ;  for  he  had  at  length 
become  convinced  that  he  was  not,  as  he  had  fondly 
hoped,  on  an  arm  of  the  Mississippi.  The  wreck 
of  the  "  Aimable  "  itself  was  not  pregnant  with  con- 
sequences so  disastrous.  A  deep  gloom  gathered 
around  the  colony.  There  was  no  hope  but  in  the 
energies  of  its  unconquerable  chief. 


CHAPTER   XXV. 

1685-1687. 
ST.  LOUIS   OF  TEXAS. 

thk  fobt.  —  mlseet  and  dejection.  —  energy  of  la  salle.  —  hls 
Jouenet  of  Exploration.  —  Duhaut.  —  Indian  Massacre.  —  Return 
of  La  Salle.  —  A  New  Calamity.  —  A  Desperate  Resolution.  — 
Departure  for  Canada.  —  Wreck  of  the  "Belle." — Marriage. — 
Sedition.  —  Adventures  of  La  Salle's  Party.  —  The  Cenis. —  The 
Camanches.  —  The  Only  Hope.  —  The  Last  Farewell. 

Of  what  avail  to  plant  a  colony  by  the  mouth  of 
a  petty  Texan  river  ?  The  Mississippi  was  the  life 
of  the  enterprise,  the  condition  of  its  growth  and 
of  its  existence.  Without  it,  all  was  futile  and 
meaningless ;  a  folly  and  a  ruin.  Cost  what  it 
might,  the  Mississippi  must  be  found. 

But  the  demands  of  the  hour  were  imperative. 
The  hapless  colony,  cast  ashore  like  a  wreck  on  the 
sands  of  Matagorda  Bay,  must  gather  up  its  shat- 
tered resources,  and  recruit  its  exhausted  strength, 
before  it  essayed  anew  its  desperate  pilgrimage  to 
the  "  fatal  river."  La  Salle  during  his  explorations 
had  found  a  spot  which  he  thought  well  fitted  for 
a  temporary  establishment.  It  was  on  the  river 
which  he  named  the  La  Vache,1  now  the  Lavaca, 

1  Called  by  Joutel  Riviere  aux  Bceufs. 


33J-  ST.   LOUIS   OF   TEXAS.  [1685. 

which  enters  the  head  of  Matagorda  Bay ;  and 
thither  he  ordered  all  the  women  and  children, 
and  most  of  the  men,  to  remove ;  while  the 
remnant,  thirty  in  number,  remained  with  Joutel 
at  the  fort  near  the  mouth  of  the  bay.  Here  they 
spent  their  time  in  hunting,  fishing,  and  squaring 
the  logs  of  drift-wood,  which  the  sea  washed  up  in 
abundance,  and  which  La  Salle  proposed  to  use 
in  building  his  new  station  on  the  Lavaca.  Thus 
the  time  passed  till  midsummer,  when  Joutel  re- 
ceived orders  to  abandon  his  post,  and  rejoin  the 
main  body  of  the  colonists.  To  this  end,  the  little 
frigate  "  Belle  "  was  sent  down  the  bay  to  receive 
him  and  his  men.  She  was  a  gift  from  the  king 
to  La  Salle,  who  had  brought  her  safely  over  the 
bar,  and  regarded  her  as  a  main-stay  of  his  hopes. 
She  now  took  Joutel  and  his  men  on  board,  together 
with  the  stores  which  had  remained  in  their  charge, 
and  conveyed  them  to  the  site  of  the  new  fort  on 
the  Lavaca.  Here  Joutel  found  a  state  of  things 
that  was  far  from  cheering.  Crops  had  been 
sown,  but  the  drought  and  the  cattle  had  nearly 
destroyed  them.  The  colonists  were  lodged  under 
tents  and  hovels ;  and  the  only  solid  structure  was 
a  small  square  enclosure  of  pickets,  in  which  the 
gunpowder  and  the  brandy  were  stored.  The  site 
was  good,  a  rising  ground  by  the  river ;  but  there 
was  no  wood  within  the  distance  of  a  league,  and 
no  horses  or  oxen  to  drag  it.  Their  work  must  be 
done  by  men.  Some  felled  and  squared  the  timber ; 
and  others  dragged  it  by  main  force  over  the  mat- 
ted grass  of  the  prairie,  under  the  scorching  Texan 


1685.]  GLOOMY  PROSPECTS.  335 

sun.  The  gun-carriages  served  to  make  the  task 
somewhat  easier ;  yet  the  strongest  men  soon  gave 
out  under  it.  Joutel  went  down  in  the  "  Belle  "  to 
the  first  fort,  and  brought  up  the  timber  collected 
there,  which  proved  a  most  seasonable  and  useful 
supply.  Palisades  and  buildings  began  to  rise. 
The  men  labored  without  spirit,  yet  strenuously ; 
for  they  labored  under  the  eye  of  La  Salle.  The 
carpenters  brought  from  Rochelle  proved  worth- 
less, and  he  himself  made  the  plans  of  the  work, 
marked  out  the  tenons  and  mortises,  and  directed 
the  whole.1 

Death,  meanwhile,  made  a  withering  havoc  among 
his  followers ;  and  under  the  sheds  and  hovels  that 
shielded  them  from  the  sun  lay  a  score  of  wretches 
slowly  wasting  away  with  the  diseases  contracted 
at  St.  DomiDgo.  Of  the  soldiers  enlisted  for  the 
expedition  by  La  Salle's  agents,  many  are  affirmed 
to  have  spent  their  lives  in  begging  at  the  church 
doors  of  Rochefort,  and  were  consequently  incapa- 
ble of  discipline.  It  was  impossible  to  prevent 
either  them  or  the  sailors  from  devouring  persim- 
mons and  other  wild  fruits  to  a  destructive  excess.2 
Nearly  all  fell  ill ;  and,  before  the  summer  had 
passed,  the  graveyard  had  more  than  thirty  ten- 
ants.3 The  bearing  of  La  Salle  did  not  aid  to  raise 
the  drooping  spirits  of  his  followers.  The  results 
of  the  enterprise  had  been  far  different  from  his 


1  Joutel,  108.     Proces  Verbal  fait  au  poste  de  St.  Louis  le  18  Avril,  1686, 
MS. 

2  Ibid. 

3  Joutel,  109. .   Le  Clercq,  who  was  not  present,  says  a  hundred. 


336  ST.  LOUIS  OF  TEXAS.  [1685. 

hopes ;  and,  after  a  season  of  flattering  promise, 
he  had  entered  again  on  those  dark  and  obstructed 
paths  which  seemed  his  destined  way  of  life.  The 
present  was  beset  with  trouble ;  the  future,  thick 
with  storms.  The  consciousness  quickened  his 
energies ;  but  it  made  him  stern,  harsh,  and  often 
unjust  to  those  beneath  him. 

Joutel  was  returning  to  camp  one  afternoon  with 
the  master-carpenter,  when  they  saw  game,  and  the 
carpenter  went  after  it.  He  was  never  seen  again. 
Perhaps  he  was  lost  on  the  prairie,  perhaps  killed 
by  Indians.  He  knew  little  of  his  trade,  but  they 
nevertheless  had  need  of  him.  Le  Gros,  a  man 
of  character  and  intelligence,  suffered  more  and 
more  from  the  bite  of  the  snake  received  in  the 
marsh  on  Easter  Day.  The  injured  limb  was 
amputated,  and  he  died.  La  Salle's  brother,  the 
priest,  lay  ill ;  and  several  others  among  the  chief 
persons  of  the  colony  were  in  the  same  condition. 

Meanwhile,  the  work  was  urged  on.  A  large 
building  was  finished,  constructed  of  timber,  roofed 
with  boards  and  raw  hides,  and  divided  into  apart- 
ments, for  lodging  and  other  uses.  La  Salle  gave 
to  the  new  establishment  his  favorite  name  of  Fort 
St.  Louis,  and  the  neighboring  bay  was  also  chris- 
tened after  the  royal  saint.1  The  scene  was  not  with- 
out its  charms.  Towards  the  south-east  stretched 
the  bay  with  its  bordering  meadows  ;  and  on  the 


1  The  Bay  of  St.  Louis,  St.  Bernard's  Bay,  or  Matagorda  Bay,  — for 
it  has  borne  all  these  names,  —  was  also  called  Espiritu  Santo  Bay,  by 
the  Spaniards,  in  common  with  several  other  bays  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
An  adjoining  bay  still  retains  the  name. 


1685.]  TOUR  OF  EXPLORATION.  337 

north-east  the  Lavaca  ran  along  the  base  of  green 
declivities.  Around,  far  and  near,  rolled  a  sea  of 
prairie,  with  distant  forests,  dim  in  the  summer 
haze.  At  times,  it  was  dotted  with  the  browsing 
buffalo,  not  yet  scared  from  their  wonted  pastures ; 
and  the  grassy  swells  were  spangled  with  the  bright 
flowers  for  which  Texas  is  renowned,  and  which 
now  form  the  gay  ornaments  of  our  gardens. 

And  now,  the  needful  work  accomplished,  and 
the  colony  in  some  measure  housed  and  fortified, 
its  indefatigable  chief  prepared  to  renew  his  quest 
of  the  "  fatal  river,"  as  Joutel  repeatedly  calls  it. 
Before  his  departure,  he  made  some  preliminary 
explorations,  in  the  course  of  which,  according  to 
the  report  of  his  brother  the  priest,  he  found  evi- 
dence that  the  Spaniards  had  long  before  had  a 
transient  establishment  at  a  spot  about  fifteen 
leagues  from  Fort  St.  Louis.1 

It  was  the  first  of  November,  when  La  Salle  set 
out  on  his  great  journey #  of  exploration.  His 
brother  Cavelier,  who  had  now  recovered,  accom- 

1  Cavelier,  in  his  report  to  the  minister,  says :  "  We  reached  a  large 
village  enclosed  with  a  kind  of  wall  made  of  clay  and  sand,  and  fortified 
with  little  towers  at  intervals,  where  we  found  the  arms  of  Spain  engraved 
on  a  plate  of  copper,  with  the  date  of  1588,  attached  to  a  stake.  The  in- 
habitants gave  us  a  kind  welcome,  and  showed  us  some  hammers  and  an 
anvil,  two  small  pieces  of  iron  cannon,  a  small  brass  culverin,  some  pike- 
heads,  some  old  sword-blades,  and  some  books  of  Spanish  comedy ;  and 
thence  they  guided  us  to  a  little  hamlet  of  fishermen  about  two  leagues 
distant,  where  they  showed  us  a  second  stake,  also  with  the  arms  of 
Spain,  and  a  few  old  chimneys.  All  this  convinced  us  that  the  Spaniards 
had  formerly  been  here."  —  Cavelier,  Relation  du  Voyage  que  mon  frere 
entreprit  pour  d€couvrir  I' embouchure  du  fleuve  de  Missisipy,  MS.  The  above 
is  translated  from  the  original  draft  of  Cavelier,  which  is  in  my  possession. 
It  was  addressed  to  the  colonial  minister,  after  the  death  of  La  Salle.  The 
statement  concerning  the  Spaniards  needs  confirmation 

29 


338  ST.  LOUIS   OF    TEXAS.  [1685 

parried  him  with  thirty  men,  and  five  cannon-shot 
from  the  fort  saluted  them  as  they  departed.  They 
were  lightly  equipped,  but  La  Salle  had  a  wooden 
corselet  as  a  protection  against  arrows.  Descending 
the  Lavaca,  they  pursued  their  course  eastward  on 
foot  along  the  margin  of  the  bay,  while  Joutel 
remained  in  command  of  the  fort.  It  stood  on  a 
rising  ground,  two  leagues  above  the  mouth  of  the 
river.  Between  the  palisades  and  the  stream  lay  a 
narrow  strip  of  marsh,  the  haunt  of  countless  birds, 
and  at  a  little  distance  it  deepened  into  ponds  full 
of  fish.  The  buffalo  and  the  deer  were  without 
number ;  and,  in  truth,  all  the  surrounding  region 
swarmed  with  game,  —  hares,  turkeys,  ducks,  geese, 
swans,  plover,  snipe,  and  partridges.  They  shot 
them  in  abundance,  after  necessity  and  practice 
had  taught  them  the  art.  The  river  supplied  them 
with  fish,  and  the  bay  with  oysters.  There  were 
land-turtles  and  sea-turtles  ;  and  Joutel  sometimes 
amused  himself  with  shooting  alligators,  of  which 
he  says  that  he  once  killed  one  twenty  feet  long. 
He  describes,  too,  with  perfect  accuracy,  that 
curious  native  of  the  south-western  prairies,  the 
"  horned  frog,"  which,  deceived  by  its  uninviting 
aspect,  he  erroneously  supposed  to  be  venomous.1 

He  suffered  no  man  to  be  idle.  Some  hunted ; 
some  fished ;  some  labored  at  the  houses  and  de- 
fences. To  the  large  building  made  by  La  Salle  he 
added  four  lodging-houses  for  the  men,  and  a  fifth 

1  Joutel  devotes  many  pages  to  an  account  of  the  animals  and  plants 
of  the  country,  most  of  which  may  readily  be  recognized  from  his  descrip- 
tion. 


1686.]  DUHAUT'S   STORY.  339 

for  the  women,  besides  a  small  chapel.  All  were 
built  with  squared  timber,  and  roofed  like  the  first 
with  boards  and  buffalo-hides  ;  while  a  palisade  and 
ditch,  defended  by  eight  pieces  of  cannon,  enclosed 
the  whole.1  Late  one  evening  in  January,  when  all 
were  gathered  in  the  principal  building,  conversing 
perhaps,  or  smoking,  or  playing  at  games  of  hazard, 
or  dozing  by  the  fire  in  homesick  dreams  of  France, 
one  of  the  men  on  guard  came  in  to  report  that  he 
had  heard  a  voice  in  the  distance  without.  All 
hastened  into  the  open  air ;  and  Joutel,  advancing 
towards  the  river  whence  the  voice  came,  presently 
descried  a  man  in  a  canoe,  and  saw  that  he  was 
Duhaut,  one  of  La  Salle's  chief  followers,  and  per- 
haps the  greatest  villain  of  the  company.  La  Salle 
had  directed  that  none  of  his  men  should  be  admitted 
into  the  fort,  unless  he  brought  a  pass  from  him ; 
and  it  would  have  been  well,  had  the  order  been 
obeyed  to  the  letter.  Duhaut,  however,  told  a 
plausible  and  possibly  a  true  story.  He  had  stopped 
on  the  march  to  mend  a  shoe  which  needed  repair, 
and  on  attempting  to  overtake  the  party  had  become 
bewildered  on  a  prairie  intersected  with  the  paths 
of  the  buffalo.  He  fired  his  gun  in  vain,  as  a  signal 
to  his  companions ;  saw  no  hope  of  rejoining  them, 
and  turned  back,  travelling  only  in  the  night,  from 
fear  of  Indians,  and  lying  hid  by  day.  After  a 
month  of  excessive  hardship,  he  reached  his  desti- 
nation ;    and,   as    the    inmates    of  Fort    St.   Louis 

1  Compare  Joutel  with  the  Spanish  account  in  Carta  en  que  se  da  noticia 
de  tin  viaje  hecho  a  la  bahia  de  Espiritu  Santo  y  de  la  poblacion  que  tenian  ahi 
lo8  Franceses :  Coleccion  de  Varios  Docume.ntos,  25. 


340  ST.  LOUIS  OF  TEXAS.  [1686. 

gathered  about  the  weather-beaten  wanderer,  he 
told  them  dark  and  ominous  tidings.  The  pilot 
of  the  "  Belle,"  such  was  his  story,  had  gone  with 
five  men  to  sound  along  the  shore,  by  order  of 
La  Salle,  who  was  then  encamped  in  the  neigh- 
borhood with  his  party  of  explorers.  The  boat's 
crew,  being  overtaken  by  the  night,  had  rashly 
bivouacked  on  the  beach,  without  setting  a  guard ; 
and,  as  they  slept,  a  band  of  Indians  rushed  in  upon 
them,  and  butchered  them  all.  La  Salle,  alarmed 
by  their  long  absence,  had  searched  along  the  shore, 
and  at  length  found  their  bodies,  scattered  about 
the  sands  and  half-devoured  by  wolves  or  panthers.1 
Well  would  it  have  been,  if  Duhaut  had  shared 
then*  fate. 

Weeks  and  months  dragged  on,  when,  at  the  end 
of  March,  Joutel,  chancing  to  mount  on  the  roof  of 
one  of  the  buildings,  saw  seven  or  eight  men  ap- 
proaching over  the  prairie.  He  went  out  to  meet 
them  with  an  equal  number,  well  armed  ;  and,  as  he 
drew  near,  recognized,  with  mixed  joy  and  anxiety, 
La  Salle  and  some  of  those  who  had  gone  with  him. 
His  brother,  Cavelier,  was  at  his  side,  with  his  cas- 
sock hanging  in  tatters,  and  his  nephew.  Moranget, 
in  no  better  plight ;  while  most  of  the  others  had 
neither  hats  nor  shirts,  and  all  were  wofully  travel- 

1  Joutel,  122 ;  compare  Le  Clercq,  ii.  296.  Cavelier,  always  disposed 
to  exaggerate,  says  that  ten  men  were  killed.  La  Salle  had  previously 
had  encounters  with  the  Indians,  and  punished  them  severely  for  the 
trouble  they  had  given  his  men.  Le  Clercq  says  of  the  principal  fight : 
"  Several  Indians  were  wounded,  a  few  were  killed,  and  others  made 
prisoners  ;  one  of  whom,  a  girl  of  three  or  four  years,  was  baptized,  and 
died  a  few  days  after,  as  the  first-fruit  of  this  mission,  and  a  sure  conquest 
sent  to  Heaven." 


1686.]  RETURN  OF  LA  SALLE.  341 

worn  and  ragged.1  Their  story  was  a  brief  one. 
After  losing  Duhaut,  they  had  wandered  on  through 
various  savage  tribes,  with  whom  they  had  more 
than  one  encounter,  scattering  them  like  chaff  by  the 
terror  of  their  fire-arms.  At  length,  they  found  a 
more  friendly  band,  and  learned  much  touching  the 
Spaniards,  who  were,  they  were  told,  universally 
hated  by  the  tribes  of  that  country.  It  would  be 
easy,  said  their  informants,  to  gather  a  host  of  war- 
riors and  lead  them  over  the  Rio  Grande ;  but  La 
Salle  was  in  no  condition  for  attempting  conquests, 
and  the  tribes  in  whose  alliance  he  had  trusted 
had,  a  few  days  before,  been  at  blows  with  him. 
The  invasion  of  New  Biscay  must  be  postponed  to 
a  more  propitious  day.  Still  advancing,  he  came 
to  a  large  river,  which  he  at  first  mistook  for  the 
Mississippi ;  and,  building  a  fort  of  palisades,  he  left 
here  several  of  his  men.2  The  fate  of  these  unfor- 
tunates does  not  appear.  He  now  retraced  his 
steps  towards  Fort  St.  Louis  ;  and,  as  he  approached 
it,  detached  some  of  his  men  to  look  for  his  vessel, 
the  "  Belle,"  for  whose  safety,  since  the  loss  of  her 
pilot,  he  had  become  very  anxious. 

On  the  next  day,  these  men  appeared  at  the  fort, 
with  downcast  looks.  They  had  not  found  the 
"  Belle  "  at  the  place  where  she  had  been  ordered 
to  remain,  nor  were  any  tidings  to  be  heard  of  her. 

1  Joutel,  136,  137.     The  date  of  the  return  is  from  Cavelier. 

2  Cavelier  says  that  he  actually  reached  the  Mississippi ;  but,  on  the  one 
hand,  he  did  not  know  whether  the  river  in  question  was  the  Mississippi 
or  not;  and,  on  the  other,  he  is  somewhat  inclined  to  mendacity.  Le 
Clercq  says  that  La  8alle  thought  he  had  found  the  river.  Joutel  6ays 
that  he  did  not  reach  it. 

29* 


342  ST.  LOUIS   OF  TEXAS.  [1686. 

From  that  hour,  the  conviction  that  she  was  lost 
possessed  the  mind  of  La  Salle. 

Surrounded  as  he  was,  and  had  always  been,  with 
traitors,  the  belief  now  possessed  him  that  her  crew 
had  abandoned  the  colony,  and  made  sail  for  the 
West  Indies  or  for  France.  The  loss  was  incal- 
culable. He  had  relied  on  this  vessel  to  transport 
the  colonists  to  the  Mississippi,  as  soon  as  its  exact 
position  could  be  ascertained ;  and,  thinking  her  a 
safer  place  of  deposit  than  the  fort,  he  had  put  on 
board  of  her  all  his  papers  and  personal  baggage, 
besides  a  great  quantity  of  stores,  ammunition,  and 
tools.1  In  truth,  she  was  of  the  last  necessity  to  the 
unhappy  exiles,  and  their  only  resource  for  escape 
from  a  position  which  was  fast  becoming  desperate. 

La  Salle,  as  his  brother  tells  us,  fell  dangerously 
ill ;  the  fatigues  of  his  journey,  joined  to  the  effects 
upon  his  mind  of  this  last  disaster,  having  overcome 
his  strength  though  not  his  fortitude.  ';  In  truth," 
writes  the  priest,  "  after  the  loss  of  the  vessel, 
which  deprived  us  of  our  only  means  of  returning 
to  France,  we  had  no  resource  but  in  the  firmness 
and  conduct  of  my  brother,  whose  death  each  of  us 
would  have  regarded  as  his  own."  2 

La  Salle  no  sooner  recovered  than  he  embraced 
a  resolution  which  could  be  the  offspring  only  of  a 
desperate  necessity.  He  determined  to  make  his 
way  by  the  Mississippi  and  the  Illinois  to  Canada, 
whence  he  might  bring  succor  to  the  colonists,  and 

1  Proces  Verbal  fait  au  poste  de  la  Bale  St.  Louis,  le  18  Avril,  1686,  MS. 

2  Cavelier,  Relation  du  Voyage  pour  de'couvrir  I' embouchure  du  Fleuve  de 
Missisipy,  MS. 


1686.]  ATTEMPT   TO   REACH   CANADA.  343 

send  a  report  of  their  condition  to  France.  The 
attempt  was  beset  with  uncertainties  and  dangers. 
The  Mississippi  was  first  to  be  found  ;  then  fol- 
lowed through  all  the  perilous  monotony  of  its  in- 
terminable windings  to  a  goal  which  was  to  be  but 
the  starting-point  of  a  new  and  not  less  arduous 
journey.  Cavelier,  his  brother,  Moranget,  his 
nephew,  the  friar,  Anastase  Douay,  and  others,  to 
the  number  of  twenty,  offered  to  accompany  him. 
Every  corner  of  the  magazine  was  ransacked  for  an 
outfit.  Joutel  generously  gave  up  the  better  part 
of  his  wardrobe  to  La  Salle  and  his  two  relatives. 
Duhaut,  who  had  saved  his  baggage  from  the 
wreck  of  the  "  Aimable,"  was  required  to  contrib- 
ute to  the  necessities  of  the  party ;  and  the  scantily 
furnished  chests  of  those  who  had  died  were  used 
to  supply  the  wants  of  the  living.  Each  man 
labored  with  needle  and  awl  to  patch  his  failing 
garments,  or  supply  their  place  with  buffalo  or 
deer  skins.  On  the  twenty-second  of  April,  after 
mass  and  prayers  in  the  chapel,  they  issued  from 
the  gate,  each  bearing  his  pack  and  his  weapons  ; 
some  with  kettles  slung  at  their  backs,  some  with 
axes,  some  with  gifts  for  Indians.  In  this  guise, 
they  held  their  way  in  silence  across  the  prairie, 
while  anxious  eyes  followed  them  from  the  pali- 
sades of  St.  Louis,  whose  inmates,  not  excepting 
Joutel  himself,  seem  to  have  been  ignorant  of  the 
extent  and  difficulty  of  the  undertaking.1 

1  Joutel,  140 ;  Anastase  Douay,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  303  ;  Cavelier,  Rela- 
tion, MS.  The  date  is  from  Douay.  It  does  not  appear  from  his  nar-i 
rative  that  they  meant  to  go  further  than  the  Illinois.     Cavelier  says  that 


344  ST.  LOUIS  OF  TEXAS.  [1686. 

It  was  but  a  few  days  after,  when  a  cry  of  Qui 
vive,  twice  repeated,  was  heard  from  the  river. 
Joutel  went  down  to  the  bank,  and  saw  a  canoe  full 
of  men,  among  whom  he  recognized  Chedeville,  a 
priest  attached  to  the  expedition,  the  Marquis  de  la 
Sablonniere,  and  others  of  those  who  had  embarked 
in  the  "  Belle."  His  first  greeting  was  an  eager 
demand  what  had  become  of  her,  and  the  answer 
confirmed  his  worst  fears.  Chedeville  and  his  com- 
panions were  conducted  within  the  fort,  where  they 
told  their  dismal  story.  The  murder  of  the  pilot 
and  his  boat's  crew  had  been  followed  by  another 
accident,  no  less  disastrous.  A  boat  which  had 
gone  ashore  for  water  had  been  swamped  in  return- 
ing, and  all  on  board  were  lost.  Those  who  re- 
mained in  the  vessel,  after  great  suffering  from 
thirst,  had  left  their  moorings,  contrary  to  the 
orders  of  La  Salle,  and  endeavored  to  approach 
the  fort.  But  they  were  few,  weak,  and  unskilful. 
A  wind  rose,  and  the  "  Belle  "  was  wrecked  on  a 
sand-bar  at  the  farther  side  of  the  bay.  All  per- 
ished but  eight  men,  who  escaped  on  a  raft,  and, 
after  long  delay,  found  a  stranded  canoe,  in  which 
they  made  their  way  to  St.  Louis,  bringing  with 
them  some  of  La  Salle's  papers  and  baggage,  saved 
from  the  wreck. 

Thus  clouds  and  darkness  thickened  around  the 
hapless  colonists,  whose  gloom  was  nevertheless 
lighted  by  a  transient  ray  of  hilarity.    Among  their 

after  resting  here  they  were  to  go  to  Canada.  Joutel  supposed  that  they 
would  go  only  to  the  Illinois.  La  Salle  seems  to  have  been  even  more 
reticent  than  usual. 


1686.]  DISCONTENT.  345 

leaders  was  the  Sieur  Barbier,  a  young  man,  who 
usually  conducted  the  hunting-parties.  Some  of 
the  women  and  girls  often  went  out  with  them  to 
aid  in  cutting  up  the  meat.  Barbier  became 
enamoured  of  one  of  the  girls  ;  and,  as  his  devotion 
to  her  was  the  subject  of  comment,  he  asked  Joutel 
for  leave  to  marry  her.  The  commandant,  after 
due  counsel  with  the  priests  and  friars,  vouchsafed 
his  consent,  and  the  rite  was  duly  solemnized ; 
whereupon,  fired  by  the  example,  the  Marquis  de 
la  Sablonniere  begged  leave  to  marry  another  of 
the  girls.  Joutel,  the  gardener's  son,  concerned 
that  a  marquis  should  so  abase  himself,  and  anxious, 
at  the  same  time,  for  the  morals  of  the  fort,  not 
only  flatly  refused,  but,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  au- 
thority, forbade  the  lovers  all  farther  intercourse.1 

The  Indians  hovered  about  the  fort  with  no  good 
intent,  sent  a  flight  of  arrows  among  Barbier's  hunt- 
ing-party, and  prowled  at  night  around  the  palisades. 
One  of  the  friars  was  knocked  down  by  a  wounded 
buffalo,  and  narrowly  escaped  ;  another  was  detected 
in  writing  charges  against  La  Salle.  Joutel  seized 
the  paper,  and  burned  it ;  but  the  clerical  character 
of  the  reverend  offender  saved  him  from  punish- 
ment. The  colonists  were  beginning  to  murmur; 
and  their  discontent  was  fomented  by  Duhaut,  who, 
with  a  view  to  some  ulterior  design,  tried  to  ingra- 
tiate himself  with  the  malcontents,  and  become 
their  leader.  Joutel  detected  the  mischief,  and, 
with  a  lenity  which  he  afterwards  deeply  regretted, 

»  Joutel,  146,  147. 


346  ST.   LOUIS   OF   TEXAS.  [1686. 

contented  himself  with  a  severe  rebuke  to  the  ring- 
leader, and  words  of  reproof  and  exhortation  to  his 
dejected  band.  And,  lest  idleness  should  beget 
farther  evil,  he  busied  them  in  such  superfluous 
tasks  as  mowing  grass,  that  a  better  crop  might 
spring  up,  and  cutting  down  trees  which  obstructed 
the  view.  In  the  evening,  he  gathered  them  in 
the  great  hall,  and  encouraged  them  to  forget  their 
cares  in  songs  and  dances. 

On  the  seventeenth  of  October,1  Joutel  saw  a  band 
of  men  and  horses,  descending  the  opposite  bank 
of  the  Lavaca,  and  heard  the  familiar  voice  of  La 
Salle  shouting  across  the  water.  He  and  his  party 
were  soon  brought  over  in  canoes,  while  the  horses 
swam  the  river.  Twenty  men  had  gone  out  with 
him,  and  eight  had  returned.  Of  the  rest,  four  had 
deserted,  one  had  been  lost,  one  had  been  devoured 
by  an  alligator ;  and  the  rest,  giving  out  on  the 
march,  had  probably  perished  in  attempting  to 
regain  the  fort.  The  travellers  told  of  a  rich 
country,  a  wild  and  beautiful  landscape,  woods, 
rivers,  groves,  and  prairies ;  but  all  availed  noth- 
ing, and  the  acquisition  of  five  horses  was  but  an 
indifferent  return  for  the  loss  of  twelve  men.  The 
story  of  then  adventures  was  soon  told. 

After  leaving  the  fort,  they  had  journeyed  to- 
wards the  north-east,  over  plains  green  as  an  eme- 
rald with  the  young  verdure  of  April,  till  at  length 
they  saw,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  the  boundless 

1  This  is  Douay's  date.  Joutel  places  it  in  August,  but  this  is  evi- 
dently an  error.  He  himself  says  that,  having  lost  all  his  papers,  he  can- 
not be  certain  as  to  dates. 


1686.]  ADVENTURES  OF   THE  TRAVELLERS.  347 

prairie  alive  with  herds  of  buffalo.  The  animals 
were  in  one  of  their  tame,  or  stupid  moods ;  and 
they  killed  nine  or  ten  of  them  without  the  least 
difficulty,  drying  the  best  parts  of  the  meat.  They 
crossed  the  Colorado  on  a  raft,  and  reached  the 
banks  of  another  river,  where  one  of  the  party 
named  Hiens,  a  German  of  Wiirtemberg,  and  an 
old  buccaneer,  was  mired  and  nearly  suffocated  in 
a  mud-hole.  Unfortunately,  as  will  soon  appear, 
he  managed  to  crawl  out ;  and,  to  console  him,  the 
river  was  christened  with  his  name.  The  party 
made  a  bridge  of  felled  trees,  on  which  they  crossed 
in  safety.  La  Salle  now  changed  their  course,  and 
journeyed  eastward,  when  the  travellers  soon  found 
.themselves  in  the  midst  of  a  numerous  Indian  popu- 
lation, where  they  were  feasted  and  caressed  with- 
out measure.  At  another  village,  they  were  less 
fortunate.  The  inhabitants  were  friendly  by  day, 
and  hostile  by  night.  They  came  to  attack  the 
French  in  then  camp,  but  withdrew,  daunted  by 
the  menacing  voice  of  La  Salle,  who  had  heard 
them  approaching  through  the  cane-brake. 

La  Salle's  favorite  Shawanoe  hunter,  Nika,  who 
had  followed  him  from  Canada  to  France,  and  from 
France  to  Texas,  was  bitten  by  a  rattlesnake ;  and, 
though  he  recovered,  the  accident  detained  the 
party  for  several  days.  At  length  they  resumed 
their  journey,  but  were  arrested  by  a  large  river, 
apparently  the  Brazos.  La  Salle  and  Cavelier, 
with  a  few  others,  tried  to  cross  on  a  raft,  which, 
as  it  reached  the  channel,  was  caught  by  a  current 
of  marvellous   swiftness.      Douay   and   Moranget, 


348  ST.  LOUIS  OF  TEXAS.  [1686. 

watching  the  transit  from  the  edge  of  the  cane- 
brake,  beheld  their  commander  swept  down  the 
stream,  and  vanishing,  as  it  were,  in  an  instant.  All 
that  day  they  remained  with  their  companions  on 
the  bank,  lamenting  in  an  abyss  of  despair  for  the 
loss  of  their  guardian  angel,  for  so  Douay  calls 
La  Salle.1  It  was  fast  growing  dark,  when,  to  their 
unspeakable  relief,  they  saw  him  advancing  with 
his  party  along  the  opposite  bank,  having  suc- 
ceeded, after  great  exertion,  in  guiding  the  raft  to 
land.  How  to  rejoin  him  was  now  the  question. 
Douay  and  his  companions,  who  had  tasted  no 
food  that  day,  broke  their  fast  on  two  young  eagles 
which  they  knocked  out  of  their  nest,  and  then 
spent  the  night  in  rueful  consultation  as  to  the 
means  of  crossing  the  river.  In  the  morning,  they 
waded  into  the  marsh,  the  friar  with  his  breviary 
in  his  hood,  to  keep  it  dry,  and  hacked  among  the 
canes  till  they  had  gathered  enough  to  make  an- 
other raft,  on  which,  profiting  by  La  Salle's  expe- 
rience, they  safely  crossed,  and  rejoined  him. 

Next,  they  became  entangled  in  a  cane-brake, 
where  La  Salle,  as  usual  with  him  in  such  cases, 
took  the  lead,  a  hatchet  in  each  hand,  and  hewed 
out  a  path  for  his  followers.  They  soon  reached 
the  villages  of  the  Cenis  Indians,  on  and  near  the 
River  Trinity,  a  tribe  then  powerful,  but  long  since 
extinct.  Nothing  could  surpass  the  friendliness  of 
their   welcome.     The    chiefs  came  to  meet  them, 

1  "  Ce  fut  une  desolation  extreme  pour  nous  tous  qui  desesperions  de 
revoir  jamais  nostre  Ange  tute'laire,  le  Sieur  de  la  Salle  .  .  .  Tout  le  jour 
se  passaien  pleurs  et  en  larmes."  —  Douay,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  315. 


1686.]  THE   CAMANCHES.  349 

bearing  the  calumet,  and  followed  by  warriors  in 
shirts  of  embroidered  deer-skin.  Then  the  whole 
village  swarmed  out  like  bees,  gathering  around 
the  visitors  with  offerings  of  food,  and  all  that  was 
precious  in  their  eyes.  La  Salle  was  lodged  with 
the  great  chief;  but  he  compelled  his  men  to 
encamp  at  a  distance,  lest  the  ardor  of  their  gallan- 
try might  give  occasion  of  offence.  The  lodges  of 
the  Cenis,  forty  or  fifty  feet  high,  and  covered  with 
a  thatch  of  meadow-grass,  looked  like  huge  bee- 
hives. Each  held  several  families,  whose  fire  was 
in  the  middle,  and  their  beds  around  the  circum- 
ference. The  spoil  of  the  Spaniards  was  to  be 
seen  on  all  sides ;  silver  lamps  and  spoons,  swords, 
old  muskets,  money,  clothing,  and  a  Bull  of  the  Pope 
dispensing  the  Spanish  colonists  of  New  Mexico 
from  fasting  during  summer.1  These  treasures,  as 
well  as  their  numerous  horses,  were  obtained  by 
the  Cenis  from  their  neighbors  and  allies,  the 
Camanches,  that  fierce  prairie  banditti,  who  then, 
as  now,  scourged  the  Mexican  border  with  their 
bloody  forays.  A  party  of  these  wild  horsemen 
was  in  the  village.  Douay  was  edified  at  seeing 
them  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  in  imitation  of 
the  neophytes  of  one  of  the  Spanish  missions. 
They  enacted,  too,  the  ceremony  of  the  mass ;  and 
one  of  them,  in  his  rude  way,  drew  a  sketch  of  a 
picture  he  had  seen  in  some  church  which  he  had 
pillaged,  wherein  the  friar  plainly  recognized  the 
Virgin  weeping  at  the  foot  of  the  cross.     They 


1  Douay,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  321 ;  Cavelier,  Relation,  MS. 
30 


350  ST.   LOUIS   OF   TEXAS.  [1686. 

invited  the  French  to  join  them  on  a  raid  into 
New  Mexico ;  and  they  spoke  with  contempt,  as 
their  tribesmen  will  speak  to  this  day,  of  the 
Spanish  Creoles,  saying  that  it  would  be  easy  to 
conquer  a  nation  of  cowards  who  make  people 
walk  before  them  with  fans  to  cool  them  in  hot 
weather.1 

Soon  after  leaving  the  Cenis  villages,  both  La 
Salle  and  his  nephew,  Moranget,  were  attacked  by 
a  fever.  This  caused  a  delay  of  more  than  two 
months,  during  which  the  party  seem  to  have  re- 
mained encamped  on  the  Neches,  or,  possibly,  the 
Sabine.  When  at  length  the  invalids  had  recovered 
sufficient  strength  to  travel,  the  stock  of  ammunition 
was  nearly  spent,  some  of  the  men  had  deserted, 
and  the  condition  of  the  travellers  was  such,  that 
there  seemed  no  alternative  but  to  return  to  Fort  St. 
Louis.  This  they  accordingly  did,  greatly  aided  in 
their  march  by  the  horses  bought  from  the  Cenis, 
and  suffering  no  very  serious  accident  by  the  way, 
excepting  the  loss  of  La  Salle's  servant,  Dumesnil, 
who  was  seized  by  an  alligator  while  attempting  to 
cross  the  Colorado. 

The  temporary  excitement  caused  among  the  colo- 
nists by  their  return  soon  gave  place  to  a  dejection 
bordering  on  despair.  "  This  pleasant  land,"  writes 
Cavelier,  "  seemed  to  us  an  abode  of  weariness  and 
a  perpetual  prison."  Flattering  themselves  with 
the  delusion,  common  to  exiles  of  every  kind,  that 
they  were  objects  of  solicitude  at  home,  they  watched 

1  Douay,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  324,  325. 


1686.]  THE  LAST   HOPE.  351 

daily,  with  straining  eyes,  for  an  approaching  sail. 
Ships,  indeed,  had  ranged  the  coast  to  seek  them, 
but  with  no  friendly  intent.  Their  thoughts  dwelt, 
with  unspeakable  yearning,  on  the  France  they  had 
left  behind ;  and  which,  to  their  longing  fancy,  was 
pictured  as  an  unattainable  Eden.  Well  might  they 
despond  ;  for  of  a  hundred  and  eighty  colonists,  be- 
sides the  crew  of  the  "  Belle,"  less  than  forty-five  re- 
mained. The  weary  precincts  of  Fort  St.  Louis, 
with  its  fence  of  rigid  palisades,  its  area  of  trampled 
earth,  its  buildings  of  weather-stained  timber,  and  its 
well-peopled  graveyard  without,  were  hateful  to 
their  sight.  La  Salle  had  a  heavy  task  to  save  them 
from  despair.  His  composure,  his  unfailing  cheer- 
fulness, his  words  of  sympathy  and  of  hope,  were 
the  breath  of  life  to  this  forlorn  company  ;  for,  self- 
contained  and  stern  as  was  his  nature,  he  could 
soften,  in  times  of  extremity,  to  a  gentleness  that 
strongly  appealed  to  the  hearts  of  those  around  him ; 
and  though  he  could  not  impart,  to  minds  of  less 
adamantine  temper,  the  audacity  of  hope  with  which 
he  still  clung  to  the  final  accomplishment  of  his  pur- 
poses, the  contagion  of  his  courage  touched,  never- 
theless, the  drooping  spirits  of  his  followers.1 

The  journey  to  Canada  was  clearly  their  only 
hope ;  and,  after  a  brief  rest,  La  Salle  prepared  to 

1  "  L'egalite  d'humeur  du  Chef  rassuroit  tout  le  monde  ;  et  il  trouvoit 
des  resources  a  tout  par  son  esprit  qui  relevoit  les  esperances  les  plus 
abatues."  —  Joutel,  152. 

"  II  seroit  difficile  de  trouver  dans  l'Histoire  un  courage  plus  intrepide 
et  plus  invincible  que  celuy  du  Sieur  de  la  Salle  dans  les  evenemens  con- 
traires ;  il  ne  fut  jamais  abatu,  et  il  espeYoit  toujours  avec  le  secours  du 
Ciel  de  venir  a  bout  de  son  entreprise  malgre"  tous  les  obstacles  qui  se 
presentoient."  —  Douay,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  327. 


352  ST.  LOUIS  OF  TEXAS.  [1687. 

renew  the  attempt.  He  proposed  that  Joutel  should, 
this  time,  be  of  the  party;  and  should  proceed  from 
Quebec  to  France,  with  his  brother  Cavelier,  to 
solicit  succors  for  the  colony.  A  new  obstacle  was 
presently  interposed.  La  Salle,  whose  constitution 
seems  to  have  suffered  from  his  long  course  of  hard- 
ships, was  attacked  in  November  with  hernia.  Jou- 
tel offered  to  conduct  the  party  in  his  stead ;  but 
La  Salle  replied  that  his  own  presence  was  indis- 
pensable at  the  Illinois.  He  had  the  good  fortune 
to  recover,  within  four  or  five  weeks,  sufficiently  to 
undertake  the  journey ;  and  all  in  the  fort  busied 
themselves  in  preparing  an  outfit.  In  such  straits 
were  they  for  clothing,  that  the  sails  of  the  "  Belle  " 
were  cut  up  to  make  coats  for  the  adventurers. 
Christmas  came,  and  was  solemnly  observed.  There 
was  a  midnight  mass  in  the  chapel,  where  Membre, 
Cavelier,  Douay,  and  their  priestly  brethren,  stood 
before  the  altar,  in  vestments  strangely  contrasting 
with  the  rude  temple  and  the  ruder  garb  of  the  wor- 
shippers. And  as  Membre  elevated  the  consecrated 
wafer,  and  the  lamps  burned  dim  through  the  clouds 
of  incense,  the  kneeling  group  drew  from  the  daily 
miracle  such  consolation  as  true  Catholics  alone  can 
know.  AVhen  Twelfth  Night  came,  all  gathered  in 
the  hall,  and  cried,  after  the  jovial  old  custom,  "■The 
King  drinks"  with  hearts,  perhaps,  as  cheerless  as 
their  cups,  which  were  filled  with  cold  water. 

On  the  morrow,  the  band  of  adventurers  mustered 
for  the  fatal  journey.1     The  five  horses,  bought  by 

1  I  follow  Douay's  date,  who  makes  the  day  of  departure  the  seventh 
of  January,  or  the  day  after  Twelfth  Night.    Joutel  thinks  it  was  the 


1687.]  THE  LAST  FAKEWELL.  353 

La  Salle  of  the  Indians,  stood  in  the  area  of  the  fort, 
packed  for  the  march  ;  and  here  was  gathered  the 
wretched  remnant  of  the  colony,  those  who  were  to 
go,  and  those  who  were  to  stay  behind.  These  lat- 
ter were  about  twenty  in  all :  Barbier,  who  was  to 
command  in  the  place  of  Joutel ;  Sablonniere,  who, 
despite  his  title  of  Marquis,  was  held  in  great  con- 
tempt ; 1  the  friars,  Membre  and  Le  Clercq,2  and  the 
priest,  Chedeville,  besides  a  surgeon,  soldiers,  labor- 
ers, seven  women  and  girls,  and  several  children, 
doomed,  in  this  deadly  exile,  to  wait  the  issues  of 
the  journey,  and  the  possible  arrival  of  a  tardy  suc- 
cor. La  Salle  had  made  them  a  last  address,  deliv- 
ered, we  are  told,  with  that  winning  air,  which, 
though  alien  from  his  usual  bearing,  seems  to  have 
been  at  times,  a  natural  expression  of  this  unhappy 
man.3  It  was  a  bitter  parting  ;  one  of  sighs,  tears, 
and  embracings  ;  the  farewell  of  those  on  whose 
souls  had  sunk  a  heavy  boding  that  they  would  never 
meet  again.4     Equipped  and  weaponed  for  the  jour- 

twelfth  of  January,  but  professes  uncertainty  as  to  all  Ins  dates  at  this 
time,  as  he  lost  his  notes. 

1  He  had  to  be  kept  on  short  allowance,  because  he  was  in  the  habit 
of  bargaining  away  every  thing  given  to  him.  He  had  squandered  the 
little  that  belonged  to  him  at  St.  Domingo  in  amusements  "  indignes  de 
sa  naissance,"  and,  in  consequence,  was  suffering  from  diseases  which 
disabled  him  from  walking.  —  Proces  Verbal,  18  Avril,  1686,  MS. 

2  Maxime  le  Clercq,  a  relative  of  the  author  of  l' Etablissement  de 
la  Foi. 

3  "  II  fit  une  Harangue  pleine  d'eloquence  et  de  cet  air  engageant  qui 
luy  estoit  si  naturel :  toute  la  petite  Colonie  y  estoit  presente  et  en  fut 
touchee  jusques  aux  larmes,  persuadee  de  la  necessite  de  son  voyage  et 
de  la  droiture  de  ses  intentions."  —  Douay,  in  Le  Clercq,  ii.  380. 

4  "  Nous  nous  separames  les  uns  des  autres,  d'une  maniere  si  tendre 
et  si  triste  qu'il  sembloit  que  nous  avions  tons  le  secret  pressentiment  que 
nous  ne  nous  reverrions  jamais."  — Joutel,  158. 

30* 


354  ST.  LOUIS  OF  TEXAS.  [1687. 

ney,  the  adventurers  filed  from  the  gate,  crossed  the 
river,  and  held  their  slow  march  over  the  prairies 
beyond,  till  intervening  woods  and  hills  had  shut 
Fort  St.  Louis  for  ever  from  their  sight. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

1687. 

ASSASSINATION  OF  LA  SALLE. 

His  Followers. — Praikie  Travelling.  —  A  Hunter's  Quarrel.  —  The 
Murder  of  Moranget.  —  The  Conspiracy.  —  Death  of  La  Salle. — 
His  Character. 

The  travellers  were  crossing  a  marshy  prairie 
towards  a  distant  belt  of  woods,  that  followed  the 
course  of  a  little  river.  They  led  with  them 
their  five  horses,  laden  with  their  scanty  bag- 
gage, and  with  what  was  of  no  less  importance,  their 
stock  of  presents  for  Indians.  Some  wore  the  re- 
mains of  the  clothing  they  had  worn  from  France, 
eked  out  with  deer-skins,  dressed  in  the  Indian 
manner ;  and  some  had  coats  of  old  sail-cloth. 
Here  was  La  Salle,  in  whom  one  would  have  known, 
at  a  glance,  the  chief  of  the  party  ;  and  the  priest, 
Cavelier,  who  seems  to  have  shared  not  one  of  the 
high  traits  of  his  younger  brother.  Here,  too,  were 
their  nephews,  Moranget  and  the  boy  Cavelier, 
now  about  seventeen  years  old ;  the  trusty  soldier, 
Joutel,  and  the  friar,  Anastase  Douay.  Duhaut 
followed,  a  man  of  respectable  birth  and  educa- 
tion ;  and  Liotot,  the  surgeon  of  the  party.      At 


356  ASSASSINATION  OF  LA   SALLE.  [1687. 

home,  they  might,  perhaps,  have  lived  and  died 
with  a  fair  repute ;  but  the  wilderness  is  a  rude 
touchstone,  which  often  reveals  traits  that  would 
have  lain  buried  and  unsuspected  in  civilized  life. 
The  German  Hiens,  the  ex-buccaneer,  was  also 
of  the  number.  He  had  probably  sailed  with  an 
English  crew,  for  he  was  sometimes  known  as 
Gemme  Anglais,  or  "  English  Jem."  J  The  Sieur 
de  Marie  ;  Teissier,  a  pilot ;  l'Archeveque,  a  ser- 
vant of  Duhaut;  and  others,  to  the  number  in  all 
of  about  twenty,  —  made  up  the  party,  to  which  is 
to  be  added  Nika,  La  Salle's  Shawanoe  hunter,  who, 
as  well  as  another  Indian,  had  twice  crossed  the 
ocean  with  him,  and  still  followed  his  fortunes  with 
an  admiring  though  undemonstrative  fidelity. 

They  passed  the  prairie,  and  neared  the  forest. 
Here  they  saw  buffalo  ;  and  the  hunters  approached, 
and  killed  several  of  them.  Then  they  traversed 
the  woods ;  found  and  forded  the  shallow  and 
rushy  stream,  and  pushed  through  the  forest  be- 
yond, till  they  again  reached  the  open  prairie. 
Heavy  clouds  gathered  over  them,  and  it  rained 
all  night ;  but  they  sheltered  themselves  under  the 
fresh  hides  of  the  buffalo  they  had  killed. 

It  is  impossible,  as  it  would  be  needless,  to  follow 
the  detail  of  their  daily  march.2     It  was  such  an 


1  Tonty  also  speaks  of  him  as  "  un  flibustier  anglois."  In  another 
document  he  is  called  "  James." 

2  Of  the  three  narratives  of  this  journey,  those  of  Joutel,  Cavelier, 
and  Anastase  Douay,  the  first  is  by  far  the  best.  That  of  Cavelier  seems 
the  work  of  a  man  of  confused  brain  and  indifferent  memory.  Some 
of  his  statements  are  irreconcilable  with  those  of  Joutel  and  Douay,  and 
known  facts  of  his  history  justify  the  suspicion  of  a  wilful  inaccuracy. 


1687.]  PRAIRIE   TRAVELLING.  357 

one,  though  with  unwonted  hardships,  as  is  fa- 
miliar to  the  memory  of  many  a  prairie  traveller 
of  our  own  time.  They  suffered  greatly  from  the 
want  of  shoes,  and  found  for  a  while  no  better  sub- 
stitute than  a  casing  of  raw  buffalo-hide,  which 
they  were  forced  to  keep  always  wet,  as,  when 
dry,  it  hardened  about  the  foot  like  iron.  At 
length,  they  bought  dressed  deer-skin  from  the 
Indians,  of  which  they  made  tolerable  moccasons. 
The  rivers,  streams,  and  gulleys  filled  with  water 
were  without  number ;  and,  to  cross  them,  they 
made  a  boat  of  bull-hide,  like  the  "bull  boat" 
still  used  on  the  Upper  Missouri.  This  did  good 
service,  as,  with  the  help  of  then-  horses,  they  could 
carry  it  with  them.  Two  or  three  men  could  cross 
in  it  at  once,  and  the  horses  swam  after  them  like 
dogs.  Sometimes  they  traversed  the  sunny  prairie  ; 
sometimes  dived  into  the  dark  recesses  of  the  forest, 
where  the  buffalo,  descending  daily  from  their  pas- 
tures in  long  files  to  drink  at  the  river,  often  made 
a  broad  and  easy  path  for  the  travellers.  When 
foul  weather  arrested  them,  they  built  huts  of 
bark  and  long  meadow-grass  ;  and,  safely  sheltered, 
lounged  away  the  day,  while  their  horses,  picketed 
near  by,  stood  steaming  in  the  rain.  At  night,  they 
usually  set  a  rude  stockade  about  their  camp ;  and 
here,  by  the  grassy  border  of  a  brook,  or  at  the 
edge  of  a  grove  where  a  spring  bubbled  up  through 
the  sands,  they  lay  asleep  around  the  embers  of 

Joutel's  account  is  of  a  very  different  character,  and  seems  to  be  the  work 
of  an  honest  and  intelligent  man.  Douay's  account  is  brief,  but  it  agrees 
with  that  of  Joutel  in  most  essential  points. 


358  ASSASSINATION  OF  LA   SALLE.  [1687. 

their  fire,  while  the  man  on  guard  listened  to  the 
deep  breathing  of  the  slumbering  horses,  and  the 
howling  of  the  wolves  that  saluted  the  rising  moon 
as  it  flooded  the  waste  of  prairie  with  pale  mystic 
radiance. 

They  met  Indians  almost  daily ;  sometimes  a 
band  of  hunters,  mounted  or  on  foot,  chasing  buf- 
falo on  the  plains  ;  sometimes  a  party  of  fishermen ; 
sometimes  a  winter  camp,  on  the  slope  of  a  hill  or 
under  the  sheltering  border  of  a  forest.  They  held 
intercourse  with  them  in  the  distance  by  signs ; 
often  they  disarmed  their  distrust,  and  attracted 
them  into  their  camp  ;  and  often  they  visited  them 
in  their  lodges,  where,  seated  on  buffalo-robes,  they 
smoked  with  their  entertainers,  passing  the  pipe 
from  hand  to  hand,  after  the  custom  still  in  use 
among  the  prairie  tribes.  Cavelier  says  that  they 
once  saw  a  band  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  mounted 
Indians  attacking  a  herd  of  buffalo  with  lances 
pointed  with  sharpened  bone.  The  old  priest  was 
delighted  with  the  sport,  which  he  pronounces  "  the 
most  diverting  thing  in  the  world."  On  another 
occasion,  when  the  party  were  encamped  near  the 
village  of  a  tribe  which  Cavelier  calls  Sassory,  he 
saw  them  catch  an  alligator  about  twelve  feet  long, 
which  they  proceeded  to  torture  as  if  he  were  a 
human  enemy,  first  putting  out  his  eyes,  and  then 
leading  him  to  the  neighboring  prairie,  where, 
having  confined  him  by  a  number  of  stakes,  they 
spent  the  entire  day  in  tormenting  him.1 

1  Cavelier,  Relation,  MS. 


1687.]  THE  MALCONTENTS.  359 

Holding  a  north-easterly  course,  the  travellers 
crossed  the  Brazos,  and  reached  the  waters  of  the 
Trinity.  The  weather  was  unfavorable,  and  on 
one  occasion  they  encamped  in  the  rain  during 
four  or  five  days  together.  It  was  not  an  har- 
monious company.  La  Salle's  cold  and  haughty 
reserve  had  returned,  at  least  for  those  of  his 
followers  to  whom  he  was  not  partial.  Duhaut 
and  the  surgeon  Liotot,  both  of  whom  were  men 
of  some  property,  had  a  large  pecuniary  stake  in 
the  enterprise,  and  were  disappointed  and  in- 
censed at  its  ruinous  result.  They  had  a  quarrel 
with  young  Moranget,  whose  hot  and  hasty  temper 
was  as  little  fitted  to  conciliate  as  was  the  harsh 
reserve  of  his  uncle.  Already,  at  Fort  St.  Louis, 
Duhaut  had  intrigued  among  the  men  ;  and  the  mild 
admonition  of  Joutel  had  not,  it  seems,  sufficed  to 
divert  him  from  his  sinister  purposes.  Liotot,  it 
is  said,  had  secretly  sworn  vengeance  against  La 
Salle,  whom  he  charged  with  having  caused  the 
death  of  his  brother,  or,  as  some  will  have  it,  his 
nephew.  On  one  of  the  former  journeys,  this  young 
man's  strength  had  failed ;  and,  La  Salle  having  or- 
dered him  to  return  to  the  fort,  he  had  been  killed 
by  Indians  on  the  way. 

The  party  moved  again  as  the  weather  improved  ; 
and,  on  the  fifteenth  of  March,  encamped  within  a 
few  miles  of  a  spot  which  La  Salle  had  passed  on 
his  preceding  journey,  and  where  he  had  left  a 
quantity  of  Indian  corn  and  beans  in  cache;  that  is 
to  say,  hidden  in  the  ground,  or  in  a  hollow  tree. 
As  provisions  were  falling  short,  he  sent  a  party 


360  ASSASSINATION   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1687. 

from  the  camp  to  find  it.  These  men  were  Duhaut, 
Liotot,1  Hiens  the  buccaneer,  Teissier,  l'Archeveque, 
Nika  the  hunter,  and  La  Salle's  servant,  Saget. 
They  opened  the  cache,  and  found  the  contents 
spoiled  ;  but,  as  they  returned  from  their  bootless  er- 
rand, they  saw  buffalo  ;  and  Nika  shot  two  of  them. 
They  now  encamped  on  the  spot,  and  sent  the  ser- 
vant to  inform  La  Salle,  in  order  that  he  might  send 
horses  to  bring  in  the  meat.  Accordingly,  on  the 
next  day,  he  directed  Moranget  and  De  Marie,  with 
the  necessary  horses,  to  go  with  Saget  to  the  hun- 
ters' camp.  When  they  arrived,  they  found  that 
Duhaut  and  his  companions  had  already  cut  up  the 
meat,  and  laid  it  upon  scaffolds  for  smoking,  though 
it  was  not  yet  so  dry  as,  it  seems,  this  process  re- 
quired. Duhaut  and  the  others  had  also  put  by, 
for  themselves,  the  marrow-bones  and  certain  por- 
tions of  the  meat,  to  which,  by  woodland  custom, 
they  had  a  perfect  right.  Moranget,  whose  rash- 
ness and  violence  had  once  before  caused  a  fatal 
catastrophe,  fell  into  a  most  unreasonable  fit  of 
rage,  berated  and  menaced  Duhaut  and  his  party, 
and  ended  by  seizing  upon  the  whole  of  the  meat, 
including  the  reserved  portions.  This  added  fuel 
to  the  fire  of  Duhaut's  old  grudge  against  Moranget 
and  his  uncle.  There  is  reason  to  think  that  he 
had  nourished  in  his  vindictive  heart  deadly  de- 
signs, the  execution  of  which  was  only  hastened 
by  the  present  outbreak.  He,  with  his  servant, 
l'Archeveque,  Liotot,  Hiens,  and  Teissier,  took 
counsel  apart,  .and  resolved  to  kill  Moranget  that 

1  Called  Lanquetot  by  Tonty. 


1687-1  MURDER  OF  MORANGET.  361 

night.  Nika,  La  Salle's  devoted  follower,  and 
Saget,  his  faithful  servant,  must  die  with  him.  All 
were  of  one  mind  except  the  pilot,  Teissier,  who 
neither  aided  nor  opposed  the  plot. 

Night  came  ;  the  woods  grew  dark  ;  the  evening 
meal  was  finished,  and  the  evening  pipes  were 
smoked.  The  order  of  the  guard  was  arranged ;  and, 
doubtless  by  design,  the  first  hour  of  the  night  was 
assigned  to  Moranget,  the  second  to  Saget,  and  the 
third  to  Nika.  Gun  in  hand,  each  stood  his  watch 
in  turn  over  the  silent  but  not  sleeping  forms  around 
him,  till,  his  time  expiring,  he  called  the  man  who 
was  to  relieve  him,  wrapped  himself  in  his  blanket, 
and  was  soon  buried  in  a  slumber  that  was  to  be  his 
last.  Now  the  assassins  rose.  Duhaut  and  Hiens 
stood  with  their  guns  cocked  ready  to  shoot  down  any 
one  of  the  destined  victims  who  should  resist  or  fly. 
The  surgeon,  with  an  axe,  stole  towards  the  three 
sleepers,  and  struck  a  rapid  blow  at  each  in  turn. 
Saget  and  Nika  died  with  little  movement ;  but 
Moranget  started  spasmodically  into  a  sitting  pos- 
ture, gasping,  and  unable  to  speak  ;  and  the  mur- 
derers compelled  De  Marie,  who  was  not  in  their 
plot,  to  compromise  himself  by  despatching  him. 

The  floodgates  of  murder  were  open,  and  the 
torrent  must  have  its  way.  Vengeance  and  safety 
alike  demanded  the  death  of  La  Salle.  Hiens,  or 
"  English  Jem,"  alone  seems  to  have  hesitated ;  for 
he  was  one  of  those  to  whom  that  stern  commander 
had  always  been  partial.  Meanwhile,  the  intended 
victim  was  still  at  his  camp,  about  six  miles  distant. 
It  is  easy  to  picture,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  the 

31 


362  ASSASSINATION  OF  LA  SALLE.  [1687. 

features  of  the  scene,  —  the  sheds  of  bark  and 
branches,  beneath  which,  among  blankets  and 
buffalo-robes,  camp-utensils,  pack-saddles,  rude 
harness,  guns,  powder-horns,  and  bullet-pouches, 
the  men  lounged  away  the  hour,  sleeping,  or  smok- 
ing, or  talking  among  themselves  ;  the  blackened 
kettles  that  hung  from  tripods  of  poles  over  the 
fires  ;  the  Indians  strolling  about  the  place,  or  lying, 
like  dogs  in  the  sun,  with  eyes  half  shut,  yet  all 
observant ;  and,  in  the  neighboring  meadow,  the 
horses  grazing  under  the  eye  of  a  watchman. 

It  was  the  nineteenth  of  March,  and  Moranget 
had  been  two  days  absent.  La  Salle  began  to 
show  a  great  anxiety.  Some  bodings  of  the  truth 
seem  to  have  visited  him  ;  for  he  was  heard  to  ask 
several  of  his  men,  if  Duhaut,  Liotot,  and  Hiens 
had  not  of  late  shown  signs  of  discontent.  Unable 
longer  to  endure  his  suspense,  he  left  the  camp  in 
charge  of  Joutel,  with  a  caution  to  stand  well  on 
his  guard  ;  and  set  out  in  search  of  his  nephew, 
with  the  friar,  Anastase  Douay,  and  two  Indians. 
"  All  the  way,"  writes  the  friar,  "  he  spoke  to  me  of 
nothing  but  matters  of  piety,  grace,  and  predestina- 
tion ;  enlarging  on  the  debt  he  owed  to  God,  who 
had  saved  him  from  so  many  perils  during  more 
than  twenty  years  of  travel  in  America.  Suddenly," 
Douay  continues,  "  I  saw  him  overwhelmed  with  a 
profound  sadness,  for  which  he  himself  could  not 
account.  He  was  so  much  moved  that  I  scarcely 
knew  him."  He  soon  recovered  his  usual  calmness  ; 
and  they  walked  on  till  they  approached  the  camp 
of  Duhaut,  which  was,   however,   on  the  farther 


1687.]  THE  FATAL   SHOT.  363 

side  of  a  small  river.  Looking  about  him  with  the 
eye  of  a  woodsman,  La  Salle  saAv  two  eagles,  or, 
more  probably,  turkey-buzzards,  circling  in  the  air 
nearly  over  him,  as  if  attracted  by  carcasses  of  beasts 
or  men.  He  fired  both  his  pistols,  as  a  summons  to 
any  of  his  followers  who  might  be  within  hearing. 
The  shots  reached  the  ears  of  the  conspirators. 
Rightly  conjecturing  by  whom  they  were  fired, 
several  of  them,  led  by  Duhaut,  crossed  the  river 
at  a  little  distance  above,  where  trees,  or  other  inter- 
vening objects,  hid  them  from  sight.  Duhaut  and 
the  surgeon  crouched  like  Indians  in  the  long,  dry, 
reed-like  grass  of  the  last  summer's  growth,  while 
l'Archeveque  stood  in  sight  near  the  bank.  La 
Salle,  continuing  to  advance,  soon  saw  him ;  and, 
calling  to  him,  demanded  where  was  Moranget. 
The  man,  without  lifting  his  hat,  or  any  show  of 
respect,  replied  in  an  agitated  and  broken  voice, 
but  with  a  tone  of  studied  insolence,  that  Moranget 
was  along  the  river.  La  Salle  rebuked  and  men- 
aced him.  He  rejoined  with  increased  insolence, 
drawing  back,  as  he  spoke,  towards  the  ambuscade, 
while  the  incensed  commander  advanced  to  chas- 
tise him.  At  that  moment,  a  shot  was  fired  from 
the  grass,  instantly  followed  by  another ;  and, 
pierced  through  the  brain,  La  Salle  dropped  dead. 
The  friar  at  his  side  stood  in  an  ecstasy  of  fright, 
unable  to  advance  or  to  fly ;  when  Duhaut,  rising 
from  his  ambuscade,  called  out  to  him  to  take 
courage,  for  he  had  nothing  to  fear.  The  murder- 
ers now  came  forward,  and  with  wild  looks  gath- 
ered about  their  victim.     "  There  thou  liest,  great 


364  ASSASSINATION   OF   LA   SALLE.  [1687. 

Bashaw !  There  thou  liest !  " 1  exclaimed  the  sur- 
geon Liotot,  in  base  exultation  over  the  unconscious 
corpse.  With  mockery  and  insult,  they  stripped  it 
naked,  dragged  it  into  the  bushes,  and  left  it  there, 
a  prey  to  the  buzzards  and  the  wolves. 

Thus,  in  the  vigor  of  his  manhood,  at  the  age  of 
forty-three,  died  Robert  Cavelier  de  la  Salle,  "  one 
of  the  greatest  men,"  writes  Tonty,  "  of  this  age  ;  " 
•without  question  one  of  the  most  remarkable  ex- 
plorers whose  names  live  in  history.  His  faithful 
officer  Joutel  thus  sketches  his  portrait :  "  His  firm- 
ness, his  courage,  his  great  knowledge  of  the  arts 
and  sciences,  which  made  him  equal  to  every  under- 
taking, and  his  untiring  energy,  which  enabled  him 
to  surmount  every  obstacle,  would  have  won  at  last 
a  glorious  success  for  his  grand  enterprise,  had 
not  all  his  fine  qualities  been  counterbalanced  by 
a  haughtiness  of  manner  which  often  made  him 
insupportable,  and  by  a  harshness  towards  those 
under  his  command,  which  drew  upon  him  an 
implacable  hatred,  and  was  at  last  the  cause  of  his 
death."  2 

The  enthusiasm  of  the  disinterested  and  chival- 
rous Champlain  was  not  the  enthusiasm  of  La 
Salle  ;  nor  had  he  any  part  in  the  self-devoted  zeal 
of  the  early  Jesuit  explorers.  He  belonged  not  to 
the  age  of  the  knight-errant  and  the  saint,  but 
to  the  modern  world  of  practical  study  and  prac- 
tical action.  He  was  the  hero,  not  of  a  principle 
nor  of  a  faith,  but  simply  of  a  fixed  idea  and  a 

1  "  Te  voila  grand  Bacha,  te  voila  !  "  —  Joutel,  203. 

2  Journal  Historique,  202. 


1687.]  HIS   CHARACTER.  365 

determined  purpose.  As  often  happens  with  con- 
centred and  energetic  natures,  his  purpose  was  to 
him  a  passion  and  an  inspiration;  and  he  clung 
to  it  with  a  certain  fanaticism  of  devotion.  It  was 
the  offspring  of  an  ambition  vast  and  comprehen- 
sive, yet  acting  in  the  interest  both  of  France  and 
of  civilization.  His  mind  rose  immeasurably  above 
the  range  of  the  mere  commercial  speculator ;  and, 
in  all  the  invective  and  abuse  of  rivals  and  enemies, 
it  does  not  appear  that  his  personal  integrity  ever 
found  a  challenger. 

He  was  capable  of  intrigue,  but  his  reserve  and 
his  haughtiness  were  sure  to  rob  him  at  last  of 
the  fruits  of  it.  His  schemes  failed,  partly  because 
they  were  too  vast,  and  partly  because  he  did  not 
conciliate  the  good-will  of  those  whom  he  was  com- 
pelled to  trust.  There  were  always  traitors  in  his 
ranks,  and  his  enemies  were  more  in  earnest  than 
his  friends.  Yet  he  had  friends  ;  and  there  were 
times  when  out  of  his  stern  nature  a  stream  of  hu- 
man emotion  would  gush,  like  water  from  the  rock. 

In  the  pursuit  of  his  purpose,  he  spared  no  man, 
and  least  of  all  himself.  He  bore  the  brunt  of 
every  hardship  and  every  danger ;  but  he  seemed  to 
expect  from  all  beneath  him  a  courage  and  endur- 
ance equal  to  his  own,  joined  with  an  implicit 
deference  to  his  authority.  Most  of  his  disasters 
may  be  ascribed,  in  some  measure,  to  himself;  and 
Fortune  and  his  own  fault  seemed  always  in  league 
to  ruin  him. 

It  is  easy  to  reckon  up  his  defects,  but  it  is  not 
easy   to  hide  from  sight  the  Roman  virtues  that 

31* 


366  ASSASSINATION  OF  LA  SALLE.  [1687. 

redeemed  them.  Beset  by  a  throng  of  enemies,  he 
stands,  like  the  King  of  Israel,  head  and  shoulders 
above  them  all.  He  was  a  tower  of  adamant, 
against  whose  impregnable  front  hardship  and 
danger,  the  rage  of  man  and  of  the  elements,  the 
southern  sun,  the  northern  blast,  fatigue,  famine,  and 
disease,  delay,  disappointment,  and  deferred  hope, 
emptied  their  quivers  in  vain.  That  very  pride, 
which,  Coriolanus-like,  declared  itself  most  sternly 
in  the  thickest  press  of  foes,  has  in  it  something 
to  challenge  admiration.  Never,  under  the  im- 
penetrable mail  of  paladin  or  crusader,  beat  a  heart 
of  more  intrepid  mettle  than  within  the  stoic  pano- 
ply that  armed  the  breast  of  La  Salle.  To  estimate 
aright  the  marvels  of  his  patient  fortitude,  one 
must  follow  on  his  track  through  the  vast  scene  of 
his  interminable  journeyings,  those  thousands  of 
weary  miles  of  forest,  marsh,  and  river,  where, 
again  and  again,  in  the  bitterness  of  baffled  striving, 
the  untiring  pilgrim  pushed  onward  towards  the 
goal  which  he  was  never  to  attain.  America  owes 
him  an  enduring  memory  ;  for  in  this  masculine 
figure,  cast  in  iron,  she  sees  the  heroic  pioneer 
who  guided  her  to  the  possession  of  her  richest 
heritage.1 

1  On  the  assassination  of  La  Salle,  the  evidence  is  fourfold  :  1st,  The 
narrative  of  Douay,  who  was  with  him  at  the  time.  2d,  That  of  Joutel, 
who  learned  the  facts  immediately  after  they  took  place,  from  Douay  and 
others,  and  who  parted  from  La  Salle  an  hour  or  more  before  his  death. 
3d,  A  document  preserved  in  the  Archives  de  la  Marine,  entitled  Relation 
de  la  Mort  du  S'-  de  la  Salle  suivant  le  rapport  d'un  nomine'  Couture  a  qui  M. 
Cavelier  I'apprit  en  passant  au  pays  des  Akansa,  avec  toutes  les  circonstances 
que  le  dit  Couture  a  apprises  d'un  Francais  que  M.  Cavelier  avoit  laisse"  aux 
dits  pays  des  Akansa,  crainte  qu'il  ne  garddt  pas  le  secret."     4th,  The  authen- 


1687.]  HIS   CHARACTER.  367 

tic  memoir  of  Tonty,  of  which  a  copy  from  the  original  is  before  me,  and 
which  has  recently  been  printed  by  Margry. 

The  narrative  of  Cavelier  unfortunately  fails  us  several  weeks  before 
the  death  of  his  brother,  the  remainder  being  lost.  On  a  study  of  these 
various  documents,  it  is  impossible  to  resist  the  conclusion  that  neither 
Cavelier  nor  Douay  always  wrote  honestly.  Joutel,  on  the  contrary, 
gives  the  impression  of  sense,  intelligence,  and  candor  throughout. 
Charlevoix,  who  knew  him  long  after,  says  that  he  was  "  un  fort  hon- 
nete  homme,  et  le  seul  de  la  troupe  de  M.  de  la  Salle,  sur  qui  ce  ce'lebre 
voyageur  put  compter."  Tonty  derived  his  information  from  the  sur- 
vivors of  La  Salle's  party.  Couture,  whose  statements  are  embodied  in 
the  Relation  de  la  Mort  de  M.  de  la  Salle,  was  one  of  Tonty's  men,  who,  as 
will  be  seen  hereafter,  were  left  by  him  at  the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  and 
to  whom  Cavelier  told  the  story  of  his  brother's  death.  Couture  also 
repeats  the  statements  of  one  of  La  Salle's  followers,  undoubtedly  a 
Parisian  boy  named  Barthelemy,  who  was  violently  prejudiced  against 
his  chief,  whom  he  slanders  to  the  utmost  of  his  skill,  saying  that  he  was 
so  enraged  at  his  failures  that  he  did  not  approach  the  sacraments  for  two 
years ;  that  he  nearly  starved  his  brother  Cavelier,  allowing  him  only  a 
handful  of  meal  a  day ;  that  he  killed  with  his  own  hand  "  quantite  de 
personnes  "  who  did  not  work  to  his  liking  ;  and  that  he  killed  the  sick  in 
their  beds  without  mercy,  under  the  pretence  that  they  were  counterfeit- 
ing sickness,  in  order  to  escape  work.  These  assertions  certainly  have  no 
other  foundation  than  the  undeniable  strictness  and  rigor  of  La  Salle's 
command.  Douay  says  that  he  confessed  and  made  his  devotions  on  the 
morning  of  his  death,  while  Cavelier  always  speaks  of  him  as  the  hope 
and  the  staff  of  the  colony. 

Douay  declares  that  La  Salle  lived  an  hour  after  the  fatal  shot ;  that 
he  gave  him  absolution,  buried  his  body,  and  planted  a  cross  on  his  grave. 
At  the  time,  he  told  Joutel  a  different  story ;  and  the  latter,  with  the  best 
means  of  learning  the  facts,  explicitly  denies  the  friar's  printed  statement. 
Couture,  on  the  authority  of  Cavelier  himself,  also  says  that  neither  he 
nor  Douay  were  permitted  to  take  any  step  for  burying  the  body.  Tonty 
says  that  Cavelier  begged  leave  to  do  so,  but  was  refused.  Douay,  un- 
willing to  place  upon  record  facts  from  which  the  inference  might  easily 
be  drawn  that  he  had  been  terrified  from  discharging  his  duty,  no  doubt 
invented  the  story  of  the  burial,  as  well  as  that  of  the  edifying  behavior  of 
Moranget,  after  he  had  been  struck  in  the  head  with  an  axe. 

The  locality  of  La  Salle's  assassination  is  sufficiently  clear  from  a  com- 
parison of  the  several  narratives  ;  and  it  is  also  indicated  on  a  contempo- 
rary manuscript  map,  made  on  the  return  of  the  survivors  of  the  party 
to  France.  The  scene  of  the  catastrophe  is  here  placed  on  a  southern 
branch  of  the  Trinity. 

La  Salle's  debts,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  according  to  a  schedule  pre- 
sented in  1701  to  Champigny,  Intendant  of  Canada,  amounted  to  106,831 
livres,  without  reckoning  interest.  This  cannot  be  meant  to  include  all, 
as  items  are  given  which  raise  the  amount  much  higher.    In  1678  and 


368  ASSASSINATION   OF  LA   SALLE.  [1687. 


1679  alone,  he  contracted  debts  to  the  amount  of  97,184  livres,  of  which 
46,000  were  furnished  by  Branssac,  fiscal  attorney  of  the  Seminary  of 
Montreal.  This  was  to  be  paid  in  beaver-skins.  Frontenac,  at  the  same 
time,  became  his  surety  for  13,623  livres.  In  1684,  he  borrowed  34,825 
livres  from  the  Sieur  Pen,  at  Paris.  These  sums  do  not  include  the  losses 
incurred  by  his  family,  which,  in  the  memorial  presented  by  them  to  the 
king,  are  set  down  at  500,000  livres  for  the  expeditions  between  1678  and 
1683,  and  300,000  livres  for  the  fatal  Texan  expedition  of  1684.  These 
last  figures  are  certainly  exaggerated. 


CHAPTER   XXVII. 

1687,  1688. 

THE   INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY. 

Triumph  of  the  Murderers.  —  Joutel  among  the  Cenis.  —  White 
Savages. — Insolence  of  Duhaut  and  his  Accomplices. —  Murdee 
of  Duhaut  and  Liotot.  —  Hiens,  the  Buccaneer.  —  Joutel  and  his 
Party. —  Their  Escape. —  They  reach  the  Arkansas.  —  Bkavery 
and  Devotion  of  Tonty.  —  The  Fugitives  reach  the  Illinois.  — 
Unworthy  Conduct  of  Cavelier.  —  He  and  his  Companions  re- 
turn to  France. 

Father  Anastase  Douay  returned  to  the  camp, 
and,  aghast  with  grief  and  terror,  rushed  into  the 
hut  of  Cavelier.  "  My  poor  brother  is  dead  !  "  cried 
the  priest,  instantly  divining  the  catastrophe  from 
the  horror-stricken  face  of  the  messenger.  Close 
behind  came  the  murderers,  Duhaut  at  their  head. 
Cavelier,  his  young  nephew,  and  Douay  himself,  all 
fell  on  their  knees,  expecting  instant  death.  The 
priest  begged  piteously  for  half  an  hour  to  prepare 
for  his  end ;  but  terror  and  submission  sufficed, 
and  no  more  blood  was  shed.  The  camp  sub- 
mitted without  resistance  ;  and  Duhaut  was  lord 
of  all. 

Joutel,  at  the  moment,  chanced  to  be  absent; 
and  l'Archeveque,  who  had  a  kindness  for  him, 


370  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1687. 

went  quietly  to  seek  him.  He  found  him  on  a  hil- 
lock, looking  at  the  band  of  horses  grazing  on  the 
meadow  below.  "  I  was  petrified,"  says  Joutel, 
"  at  the  news,  and  knew  not  whether  to  fly  or 
remain  where  I  was ;  but  at  length,  as  I  had 
neither  powder,  lead,  nor  any  weapon,  and  as 
l'Archeveque  assured  me  that  my  life  would  be 
safe  if  I  kept  quiet  and  said  nothing,  I  abandoned 
myself  to  the  care  of  Providence,  and  went  back  in 
silence  to  the  camp.  Duhaut,  puffed  up  with  the 
new  authority  which  his  crime  had  gained  for  him, 
no  sooner  saw  me  than  he  cried  out  that  each 
ought  to  command  in  turn  ;  to  which  I  made  no 
reply.  We  were  all  forced  to  smother  our  grief, 
and  not  permit  it  to  be  seen  ;  for  it  was  a  question 
of  life  and  death  ;  but  it  may  be  imagined  with  what 
feelings  the  Abbe  Cavelier  and  his  nephew,  Father 
Anastase,  and  I  regarded  these  murderers,  of  whom 
we  expected  to  be  the  victims  every  moment." 1 
They  succeeded  so  well  in  their  dissembling,  that 
Duhaut  and  his  accomplices  seemed  to  lose  all  dis- 
trust of  their  intentions  ;  and  Joutel  says  that  they 
might  easily  have  avenged  the  death  of  La  Salle  by 
that  of  his  murderers,  had  not  the  elder  Cavelier, 
through  scruple  or  cowardice,  opposed  the  de- 
sign. 

Meanwhile,  Duhaut  and  Liotot  seized  upon  all 
the  money  and  goods  of  La  Salle,  even  to  his  cloth- 
ing, declaring  that  they  had  a  right  to  them,  in 
compensation  for  the  losses  in  which  they  had  been 

1  Journal  Historique,  205. 


1687.]  MARCH  FOR   THE   CENIS.  371 

involved  by  the  failure  of  his  schemes.1  They 
treated  the  elder  Cavelier  with  great  contempt,  dis- 
regarding his  claims  to  the  property,  which,  indeed, 
he  dared  not  urge  ;  and  compelling  him  to  listen 
to  the  most  violent  invectives  against  his  brother. 
Hiens,  the  buccaneer,  was  greatly  enraged  at  these 
proceedings  of  his  accomplices  ;  and  thus  the  seeds 
of  a  quarrel  were  already  sown. 

On  the  second  morning  after  the  murder,  the 
party  broke  up  their  camp,  packed  their  horses, 
of  which  the  number  had  been  much  increased  by 
barter  with  the  Indians,  and  began  their  march  for 
the  Cenis  villages,  amid  a  drenching  rain.  Thus 
they  moved  onward  slowly  till  the  twenty-eighth, 
when  they  reached  the  main  stream  of  the  Trinity, 
and  encamped  on  its  borders.  Joutel,  who,  as  well 
as  his  companions  in  misfortune,  could  not  lie  down 
to  sleep  with  an  assurance  of  waking  in  the  morn- 
ing, was  now  directed  by  his  self-constituted  chiefs 
to  go  in  advance  of  the  party  to  the  great  Cenis 
village  for  a  supply  of  food.  Liotot  himself,  with 
Hiens  and  Teissier,  declared  that  they  would  go 
with  him  ;  and  Duhaut  graciously  supplied  him  with 
goods  for  barter.  Joutel  thus  found  himself  in  the 
company  of  three  murderers,  who,  as  he  strongly 
suspected,  were  contriving  an  opportunity  to  kill 
him ;  but,  having  no  choice,  he  dissembled  his 
doubts,  and  set  out  with  his  ill-omened  companions. 


1  According  to  the  Relation  de  la  Mort  da  ST-  de  la  Salle,  the  amount  of 
property  remaining  was  still  very  considerable.  The  same  document 
states  that  Duhaut's  interest  in  the  expedition  was  half  the  freight  of  one 
of  the  four  vessels,  which  was,  of  course,  a  dead  loss  to  him. 


372  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1G87. 

His  suspicions  seem  to  have  been  groundless  ;  and, 
after  a  ride  of  ten  leagues,  the  travellers  neared 
the  Indian  town,  which,  with  its  large  thatched 
lodges,  looked  like  a  cluster  of  huge  haystacks. 
Their  approach  had  been  made  known,  and  they 
were  received  in  solemn  state.  Twelve  of  the 
elders  came  to  meet  them  in  their  dress  of  cere- 
mony, each  with  his  face  daubed  red  or  black, 
and  his  head  adorned  with  painted  plumes.  From 
their  shoulders  hung  deer-skins  wrought  and  fringed 
with  gay  colors.  Some  carried  war-clubs ;  some, 
bows  and  arrows ;  some,  the  blades  of  Spanish 
rapiers,  attached  to  wooden  handles  decorated  with 
hawk's-bells  and  bunches  of  feathers.  They  stopped 
before  the  honored  guests,  and,  raising  their  hands 
aloft,  uttered  howls  so  extraordinary,  that  Joutel 
had  much  ado  to  preserve  the  gravity  which  the 
occasion  demanded.  Having  next  embraced  the 
Frenchmen,  the  elders  conducted  them  into  the  vil- 
lage, attended  by  a  crowd  of  warriors  and  young 
men ;  ushered  them  into  their  town-hall,  a  large 
lodge  devoted  to  councils,  feasts,  dances,  and  other 
public  assemblies ;  seated  them  on  mats,  and 
squatted  in  a  ring  around  them.  Here  they  were 
regaled  with  sagamite,  or  Indian  porridge,  corn- 
cake,  beans,  and  bread  made  of  the  meal  of  parched 
corn.  Then  the  pipe  was  lighted,  and  all  smoked 
together.  The  four  Frenchmen  proposed  to  open  a 
traffic  for  provisions,  and  their  entertainers  grunted 
assent. 

Joutel  found  a  Frenchman  in  the  village.     He 
was  a  young  man  from  Provence,  who  had  deserted 


1687.]  JOUTEL  AND   THE   CENIS.  373 

from  La  Salle  on  his  last  journey,  and  was  now,  to 
all  appearance,  a  savage  like  his  adopted  country- 
men, being  naked  like  them,  and  affecting  to  have 
forgotten  his  native  language.  He  was  very  friendly, 
however,  and  invited  the  visitors  to  a  neighboring 
village,  where  he  lived,  and  where,  as  he  told  them, 
they  would  find  a  better  supply  of  corn.  They 
accordingly  set  out  with  him,  escorted  by  a  crowd 
of  Indians.  They  saw  lodges  and  clusters  of  lodges 
scattered  along  their  path  at  intervals,  each  with 
its  field  of  corn,  beans,  and  pumpkins,  rudely  culti- 
vated with  a  wooden  hoe.  Reaching  their  destina- 
tion, which  was  not  far  off,  they  were  greeted  with 
the  same  honors  as  at  the  first  village ;  and,  the 
ceremonial  of  welcome  over,  were  lodged  in  the 
abode  of  the  savage  Frenchman.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed,  however,  that  he  and  his  squaws,  of 
whom  he  had  a  considerable  number,  dwelt  here 
alone ;  for  these  lodges  of  the  Cenis  often  con- 
tained fifteen  families  or  more.  They  were  made 
by  firmly  planting  in  a  circle  tall  straight  young 
trees,  such  as  grew  in  the  swamps.  The  tops  were 
then  bent  inward  and  lashed  together ;  great  num- 
bers of  cross-pieces  were  bound  on,  and  the  frame 
thus  constructed  was  thickly  covered  with  thatch, 
a  hole  being  left  at  the  top  for  the  escape  of  the 
smoke.  The  inmates  were  ranged  around  the  cir- 
cumference of  the  structure,  each  family  in  a  kind 
of  stall,  open  in  front,  but  separated  from  those 
adjoining  it  by  partitions  of  mats.  Here  they 
placed  their  beds  of  cane,  their  painted  robes  of 
buffalo  and  deer  skin,  their  cooking  utensils  of  pot- 


32 


374  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1687. 

tery,  and  other  household  goods  ;  and  here,  too,  the 
head  of  the  family  hung  his  bow,  quiver,  lance,  and 
shield.  There  was  nothing  in  common  but  the  fire, 
which  burned  in  the  middle  of  the  lodge,  and  was 
never  suffered  to  go  out.  These  dwellings  were  of 
great  size,  and  Joutel  declares  that  he  has  seen  one 
sixty  feet  in  diameter.1 

It  was  in  one  of  the  largest  that  the  four  trav- 
ellers were  now  lodged.  A  place  was  assigned 
to  them  where  to  bestow  their  baggage ;  and  they 
took  possession  of  their  quarters  amid  the  silent 
stares  of  the  whole  community.  They  asked  their 
renegade  countryman,  the  Provencal,  if  they  were 
safe.  He  replied  that  they  were  ;  but  this  did  not 
wholly  reassure  them,  and  they  spent  a  somewhat 
wakeful  night.  In  the  morning,  they  opened  then 
budgets,  and  began  a  brisk  trade  in  knives,  awls, 
beads,  and  other  trinkets,  which  they  exchanged 
for  corn  and  beans.  Before  evening,  they  had 
acquired  a  considerable  stock ;  and  Joutel's  three 
companions  declared  their  intention  of  returning 
with  it  to  the  camp,  leaving  him  to  continue  the 
trade.  They  went,  accordingly,  in  the  morning  ;  and 
Joutel  was  left  alone.     On  the  one  hand,  he  was 

1  The  lodges  of  the  Florida  Indians  were  somewhat  similar.  The 
winter  lodges  of  the  now  nearly  extinct  Mandans,  though  not  so  high  in 
proportion  to  their  width,  and  built  of  more  solid  materials,  as  the  rigor  of 
a  northern  climate  requires,  bear  a  general  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
Cenis. 

The  Cenis  tattooed  their  faces  and  some  parts  of  their  bodies  by 
pricking  powdered  charcoal  into  the  skin.  The  women  tattooed  the 
breasts  ;  and  this  practice  was  general  among  them,  notwithstanding  the 
pain  of  the  operation,  as  it  was  thought  very  ornamental.  Their  dress 
consisted  of  a  sort  of  frock,  or  wrapper  of  skin,  from  the  waist  to  the 
knees.    The  men,  in  summer,  wore  nothing  but  the  waist-cloth. 


1687.]  JOUTEL  AND   THE   CENIS.  375 

glad  to  be  rid  of  them ;  on  the  other,  he  found  his 
position  among  the  Cenis  very  irksome,  and,  as 
he  thought,  insecure.  Besides  the  Provencal,  who 
had  gone  with  Liotot  and  his  companions,  there 
were  two  other  French  deserters  among  this  tribe, 
and  Joutel  was  very  desirous  to  see  them,  hoping  that 
they  could  tell  him  the  way  to  the  Mississippi ;  for 
he  was  resolved  to  escape,  at  the  first  opportunity, 
from  the  company  of  Duhaut  and  his  accomplices. 
He  therefore  made  the  present  of  a  knife  to  a  young 
Indian,  whom  he  sent  to  find  the  two  Frenchmen, 
and  invite  them  to  come  to  the  village.  Mean- 
while, he  continued  his  barter,  but  under  many 
difficulties ;  for  he  could  only  explain  himself  by 
signs,  and  his  customers,  though  friendly  by  day, 
pilfered  his  goods  by  night.  This,  joined  to  the 
fears  and  troubles  which  burdened  his  mind,  almost 
deprived  him  of  sleep,  and,  as  he  confesses,  greatly 
depressed  his  spirits.  Indeed,  he  had  little  cause 
for  cheerfulness,  in  the  past,  present,  or  future. 
An  old  Indian,  one  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  tribe, 
observing  his  dejection,  and  anxious  to  relieve  it, 
one  evening  brought  him  a  young  wife,  saying  that 
he  made  him  a  present  of  her.  She  seated  herself 
at  his  side  ;  "  but,"  says  Joutel,  "  as  my  head  was 
full  of  other  cares  and  anxieties,  I  said  nothing  to 
the  poor  girl.  She  waited  for  a  little  time ;  and 
then,  finding  that  I  did  not  speak  a  word,  she  went 
away." 

Late  one  night,  he  lay,  between  sleeping  and 
waking,  on  the  buffalo-robe  that  covered  his  bed  of 
canes.     All   around   the   great   lodge,  its  inmates 


376  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1687. 

were  buried  in  sleep ;  and  the  fire  that  still  burned 
in  the  midst  cast  ghostly  gleams  on  the  trophies  of 
savage  chivalry,  the  treasured  scalp-locks,  the  spear 
and  war-club,  and  shield  of  whitened  bull-hide,  that 
hung  by  each  warrior's  resting-place.  Such  was 
the  weird  scene  that  lingered  on  the  dreamy  eyes 
of  Joutel,  as  he  closed  them  at  last  in  a  troubled 
sleep.  The  sound  of  a  footstep  soon  wakened  him ; 
and,  turning,  he  saw,  at  his  side,  the  figure  of  a 
naked  savage,  armed  with  a  bow  and  arrows. 
Joutel  spoke,  but  received  no  answer.  Not  know- 
ing what  to  think,  he  reached  out  his  hand  for  his 
pistols  ;  on  which  the  intruder  withdrew,  and  seated 
himself  by  the  fire.  Thither  Joutel  followed  ;  and, 
as  the  light  fell  on  his  features,  he  looked  at  him 
closely.  His  face  was  tattooed,  after  the  Cenis 
fashion,  in  lines  drawn  from  the  top  of  the  forehead 
and  converging  to  the  chin;  and  his  body  was  deco- 
rated with  similar  embellishments.  Suddenly,  this 
supposed  Indian  rose,  and  threw  his  arms  around 
Joutel's  neck,  making  himself  known,  at  the  same 
time,  as  one  of  the  Frenchmen  who  had  deserted 
from  La  Salle,  and  taken  refuge  among  the  Cenis. 
He  was  a  Breton  sailor  named  Ruter.  His  com- 
panion, named  Grollet,  also  a  sailor,  had  been 
afraid  to  come  to  the  village,  lest  he  should  meet 
La  Salle.  Ruter  expressed  surprise  and  regret 
when  he  heard  of  the  death  of  his  late  commander. 
He  had  deserted  him  but  a  few  months  before. 
That  brief  interval  had  sufficed  to  transform  him 
into  a  savage  ;  and  both  he  and  his  companion 
found  their  present  reckless  and  ungoverned  way  of 


1687.]  SCHEMES  OF  ESCAPE.  377 

life  greatly  to  their  liking.  He  could  tell  nothing 
of  the  Mississippi ;  and  on  the  next  day  he  went 
home,  carrying  with  him  a  present  of  beads  for  his 
wives,  of  which  last  he  had  made  a  large  collec- 
tion. 

In  a  few  days  he  reappeared,  bringing  Grollet 
with  him.  Each  wore  a  bunch  of  turkey-feathers 
dangling  from  his  head,  and  each  had  wrapped  his 
naked  body  in  a  blanket.  Three  men  soon  after 
arrived  from  Duhaut's  camp,  commissioned  to  receive 
the  corn  which  Joutel  had  purchased.  They  told 
him  that  Duhaut  and  Liotot,  the  tyrants  of  the 
party,  had  resolved  to  return  to  Fort  St.  Louis,  and 
build  a  vessel  to  escape  to  the  West  Indies  ;  "  a 
visionary  scheme,"  writes  Joutel,  "  for  our  carpen- 
ters were  all  dead ;  and,  even  if  they  had  been 
alive,  they  were  so  ignorant,  that  they  would  not 
have  known  how  to  go  about  the  work  ;  besides, 
we  had  no  tools  for  it.  Nevertheless,  I  was  obliged 
to  obey,  and  set  out  for  the  camp  with  the  provi- 
sions." 

On  arriving,  he  found  a  wretched  state  of  affairs. 
Douay  and  the  two  Caveliers,  who  had  been  treated 
by  Duhaut  with  great  harshness  and  contempt,  had 
made  their  mess  apart ;  and  Joutel  now  joined 
them.  This  separation  restored  them  their  freedom 
of  speech,  of  which  they  had  hitherto  been  de- 
prived ;  but  it  subjected  them  to  incessant  hunger, 
as  they  were  allowed  only  food  enough  to  keep 
them  from  famishing.  Douay  says  that  quarrels 
were  rife  among  the  assassins  themselves,  the  mal- 
contents being  headed  by  Hiens,  who  was  enraged 

82* 


378  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE  GUILTY.  [1687. 

that  Duhaut  and  Liotot  should  have  engrossed  all 
the  plunder.  Joutel  was  helpless,  for  he  had  none 
to  back  him  but  two  priests  and  a  boy. 

He  and  his  companions  talked  of  nothing  around 
their  solitary  camp-fire  but  the  means  of  escaping 
from  the  villanous  company  into  which  they  were 
thrown.  They  saw  no  resource  but  to  find  the 
Mississippi,  and  thus  make  their  way  to  Canada,  a 
prodigious  undertaking  in  their  forlorn  condition ; 
nor  was  there  any  probability  that  the  assassins 
would  permit  them  to  go.  These,  on  then'  part, 
were  beset  with  difficulties.  They  could  not  re- 
turn to  civilization  without  manifest  peril  of  a 
halter ;  and  their  only  safety  was  to  turn  bucca- 
neers or  savages.  Duhaut,  however,  still  held  to 
his  plan  of  going  back  to  Fort  St.  Louis  ;  and 
Joutel  and  his  companions,  who,  with  good  reason, 
stood  in  daily  fear  of  him,  devised  among  them- 
selves a  simple  artifice  to  escape  from  his  company. 
The  elder  Cavelier  was  to  tell  him  that  they  were 
too  fatigued  for  the  journey,  and  wished  to  stay 
among  the  Cenis  ;  and  to  beg  him  to  allow  them  a 
portion  of  the  goods,  for  which  Cavelier  was  to 
give  his  note  of  hand.  The  old  priest,  whom  a 
sacrifice  of  truth,  even  on  less  important  occasions, 
cost  no  great  effort,  accordingly  opened  the  nego- 
tiation ;  and  to  his  own  astonishment,  and  that  of 
his  companions,  gained  the  assent  of  Duhaut. 
Their  joy,  however,  was  short ;  for  Ruter,  the 
French  savage,  to  whom  Joutel  had  betrayed  his 
intention,  when  inquiring  the  way  to  the  Mississippi, 
told  it  to  Duhaut,  who,  on  this,  changed  front,  and 


1687.]  THE   CRISIS.  379 

made  the  ominous  declaration  that  he  and  his  men 
would  also  go  to  Canada.  Joutel  and  his  com- 
panions were  now  filled  with  alarm  ;  for  there  was 
no  likelihood  that  the  assassins  would  permit  them, 
the  witnesses  of  their  crime,  to  reach  the  settle- 
ments alive.  In  the  midst  of  their  trouble,  the  sky 
was  cleared  as  by  the  crash  of  a  thunderbolt. 

Hiens  and  several  others  had  gone,  some  time 
before,  to  the  Cenis  villages  to  purchase  horses ; 
and  here  they  had  been  retained  by  the  charms  of 
the  Indian  women.  During  their  stay,  Hiens  heard 
of  Duhaut's  new  plan  of  going  to  Canada  by  the 
Mississippi ;  and  he  declared  to  those  with  him  that 
he  would  not  consent.  On  a  morning  early  in  May, 
he  appeared  at  Duhaut's  camp,  with  Ruter  and  Grol- 
let,  the  French  savages,  and  about  twenty  Indians. 
Duhaut  and  Liotot,  it  is  said,  were  passing  the  time 
by  practising  with  bows  and  arrows  in  front  of  then 
hut.  One  of  them  called  to  Hiens,  ;i  Good-morn- 
ing ;  "  but  the  buccaneer  returned  a  sullen  answer. 
He  then  accosted  Duhaut,  telling  him  that  he  had 
no  mind  to  go  up  the  Mississippi  with  him,  and 
demanding  a  share  of  the  goods.  Duhaut  replied 
that  the  goods  were  his  own,  since  La  Salle  had 
owed  him  money.  "  So  you  will  not  give  them  to 
rael"  returned  Hiens.  "No,"  was  the  answer. 
"  You  are  a  wretch  !  "  exclaimed  Hiens.  "  You 
killed  my  master ;  "  *  and,  drawing  a  pistol  from  his 

1  "  Tu  es  un  miserable.  Tu  as  tue  mon  maistre."  —  Tonty,  Me'moire, 
MS.  Tonty  derived  his  information  from  some  of  those  present.  Douay 
and  Joutel  have  each  left  an  account  of  this  murder.  They  agree  in 
essential  points,  though  Douay  says  that,  when  it  took  place,  Duhaut  had 
moved  his  camp  beyond  the  Cenis  villages,  which  is  contrary  to  Joutel's 
statement. 


380  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE  GUILTY.  [1687. 

belt,  he  fired  at  Duhaut,  who  staggered  three  or 
four  paces,  and  fell  dead.  Almost  at  the  same  in- 
stant, Ruter  fired  his  gun  at  Liotot,  shot  three  balls 
into  his  body,  and  stretched  him  on  the  ground 
mortally  wounded. 

Douay  and  the  two  Caveliers  stood  in  extreme 
terror,  thinking  that  their  turn  was  to  come  next. 
Joutel,  no  less  alarmed,  snatched  his  gun  to  defend 
himself;  but  Hiens  called  to  him  to  fear  nothing, 
declaring  that  what  he  had  done  was  only  to  avenge 
the  death  of  La  Salle,  to  which,  nevertheless,  he 
had  been  privy,  though  not  an  active  sharer  in  the 
crime.  Liotot  lived  long  enough  to  make  his  con- 
fession, after  which  Ruter  killed  him  by  exploding 
a  pistol  loaded  with  a  blank  charge  of  powder 
against  his  head.  Duhaut's  myrmidon,  l'Archeve- 
que,  was  absent,  hunting,  and  Hiens  was  for  killing 
him  on  his  return ;  but  the  two  priests  and  Joutel 
succeeded  in  dissuading  him. 

The  Indian  spectators  beheld  these  murders  with 
undisguised  amazement,  and  almost  with  horror. 
What  manner  of  men  were  these  who  had  pierced 
the  secret  places  of  the  wilderness  to  riot  in  mutual 
slaughter'?  Their  fiercest  warriors  might  learn  a 
lesson  in  ferocity  from  these  heralds  of  civilization. 
Joutel  and  his  companions,  who  could  not  dispense 
with  the  aid  of  the  Cenis,  were  obliged  to  explain 
away,  as  they  best  might,  the  atrocity  of  what  they 
had  witnessed.1 

Hiens,  and  others  of  the  French,  had  before 
promised  to  join  the  Cenis  on  an  expedition  against 

1  Joutel,  248. 


1687.]  HIENS   TRIUMPHANT.  381 

a  neighboring  tribe  with  whom  they  were  at  war ; 
and  the  whole  party,  having  removed  to  the  Indian 
village,  the  warriors  and  their  allies  prepared  to 
depart.  Six  Frenchmen  went  with  Hiens  ;  and  the 
rest,  including  Joutel,  Douay,  and  the  Caveliers, 
remained  behind,  in  the  same  lodge  in  which  Joutel 
had  been  domesticated,  and  where  none  were  now 
left  but  women,  children,  and  old  men.  Here  they 
remained  a  week  or  more,  watched  closely  by  the 
Cenis,  who  would  not  let  them  leave  the  village ; 
when  news  at  length  arrived  of  a  great  victory, 
and  the  warriors  soon  after  returned  with  forty- 
eight  scalps.  It  was  the  French  guns  that  won 
the  battle,  but  not  the  less  did  they  glory  in  their 
prowess  ;  and  several  days  were  spent  in  ceremonies 
and  feasts  of  triumph.1 

When  all  this  hubbub  of  rejoicing  had  subsided, 
Joutel  and  his  companions  broke  to  Hiens  their 
plan  of  attempting  to  reach  home  by  way  of  the 
Mississippi.  As  they  had  expected,  he  opposed  it 
vehemently,  declaring  that,  for  his  own  part,  he 
would  not  run  such  a  risk  of  losing  his  head ;  but 
at  length  he  consented  to  their  departure,  on  con- 
dition that  the  elder  Cavelier  should  give  him  a 
certificate  of  his  entire  innocence  of  the  murder  of 
La  Salle,  which  the  priest  did  not  hesitate  to  do. 
For  the  rest,  Hiens  treated  his  departing  fellow- 
travellers  with  the  generosity  of  a  successful  free- 
booter ;  for  he  gave  them  a  good  share  of  the 
plunder   which   he    had   won   by   his   late    crime, 

1  These  are  described  by  Joutel.  Like  nearly  all  the  early  observers 
of  Indian  manners,  he  speaks  of  the  practice  of  cannibalism. 


382  THE  INNOCENT   AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1G87. 

supplying  them  with  hatchets,  knives,  beads,  and 
other  articles  of  trade,  besides  several  horses.  Mean- 
while, adds  Joutel,  "  we  had  the  mortification  and 
chagrin  of  seeing  this  scoundrel  walking  about  the 
camp  in  a  scarlet  coat  laced  with  gold  which  had 
belonged  to  the  late  Monsieur  de  la  Salle,  and  which 
he  had  seized  upon,  as  also  upon  all  the  rest  of  his 
property."  A  well-aimed  shot  would  have  avenged 
the  wrong,  but  Joutel  was  clearly  a  mild  and  mode- 
rate person ;  and  the  elder  Cavelier  had  constantly 
opposed  all  plans  of  violence.  Therefore  they 
stifled  their  emotions,  and  armed  themselves  with 
patience. 

Joutel's  party  consisted,  besides  himself,  of  the 
Caveliers,  uncle  and  nephew,  Anastase  Douay,  De 
Marie,  Teissier,  and  a  young  Parisian  named  Bar- 
thelemy.  Teissier,  an  accomplice  in  the  murders 
of  Moranget  and  La  Salle,  had  obtained  a  pardon, 
in  form,  from  the  elder  Cavelier.  They  had  six 
horses  and  three  Cenis  guides.  Hiens  embraced 
them  at  parting,  as  did  the  ruffians  who  remained 
with  him.  Their  course  was  north-east,  towards 
the  mouth  of  the  Arkansas,  a  distant  goal,  the  way 
to  which  was  beset  with  so  many  dangers  that  their 
chance  of  reaching  it  seemed  small.  It  was  early 
in  June,  and  the  forests  and  prairies  were  green  with 
the  verdure  of  opening  summer.  They  soon  reached 
the  Assonis,  a  tribe  near  the  Sabine,  who  received 
them  well,  and  gave  them  guides  to  the  nations 
dwelling  towards  Red  River.  On  the  twenty-third, 
they  approached  a  village,  the  inhabitants  of  which, 
regarding  them   as   curiosities  of  the   first   order 


1687.]  HONORS   TO  CAVELIER.  383 

came  out  in  a  body  to  see  them  ;  and,  eager  to  do 
them  honor,  required  them  to  mount  on  their  backs, 
and  thus  make  their  entrance  in  procession.  Joutel, 
being  large  and  heavy,  weighed  down  his  bearer, 
insomuch  that  two  of  his  countrymen  were  forced 
to  sustain  him,  one  on  each  side.  On  arriving,  an 
old  chief  washed  their  faces  with  warm  water  from 
an  earthen  pan,  and  then  invited  them  to  mount 
on  a  scaffold  of  canes,  where  they  sat  in  the  hot 
sun  listening  to  four  successive  speeches  of  wel- 
come, of  which  they  understood  not  a  word.1 

At  the  village  of  another  tribe,  farther  on  their 
way,  they  met  with  a  welcome  still  more  oppres- 
sive. Cavelier,  the  unworthy  successor  of  his 
brother,  being  represented  as  the  chief  of  the  party, 
became  the  principal  victim  of  their  attentions. 
They  danced  the  calumet  before  him ;  while  an 
Indian,  taking  him,  with  an  air  of  great  respect, 
by  the  shoulders,  as  he  sat,  shook  him  in  cadence 
with  the  thumping  of  the  drum.  They  then  placed 
two  girls  close  beside  him,  as  his  wives ;  while,  at 
the  same  time,  an  old  chief  tied  a  painted  feather 
in  his  hair.  These  proceedings  so  scandalized  him, 
that,  pretending  to  be  ill,  he  broke  off  the  cere- 
mony ;  but  they  continued  to  sing  all  night  with  so 
much  zeal,  that  several  of  them  were  reduced  to  a 
state  of  complete  exhaustion. 

At  length,  after  a  journey  of  about  two  months, 


1  These  Indians  Were  a  portion  of  the  Cadodaquis,  or  Caddoes,  then 
living  on  Red  River.  The  travellers  afterwards  visited  other  villages  of 
the  same  people.  Tonty  was  here  two  years  afterwards,  and  mentions 
the  curious  custom  of  washing  the  faces  of  guests. 


384  THE  INNOCENT  AND  THE   GUILTY.  [1687- 

during  which  they  lost  one  of  their  number,  De 
Marie,  accidentally  drowned  while  bathing,  the  trav- 
ellers approached  the  River  Arkansas,  at  a  point 
not  far  above  its  junction  with  the  Mississippi.  Led 
by  their  Indian  guides,  they  traversed  a  rich  district 
of  plains  and  woods,  and  stood  at  length  on  the 
borders  of  the  stream.  Nestled  beneath  the  forests 
of  the  farther  shore,  they  saw  the  lodges  of  a  large 
Indian  town ;  and  here,  as  they  gazed  across  the 
broad  current,  they  presently  descried  an  object 
which  nerved  their  spent  limbs,  and  thrilled  their 
homesick  hearts  with  joy.  It  was  a  tall  wooden 
cross  ;  and  near  it  was  a  small  house,  built  evidently 
by  Christian  hands.  With  one  accord,  they  fell  on 
their  knees,  and  raised  their  hands  to  Heaven  in 
thanksgiving.  Two  men,  in  European  dress,  issued 
from  the  door  of  the  house,  and  fired  their  guns  to 
salute  the  excited  travellers,  who,  on  their  part, 
replied  with  a  volley.  Canoes  put  out  from  the 
farther  shore,  and  ferried  them  to  the  town,  where 
they  were  welcomed  by  Couture  and  De  Launay, 
two  of  Tonty's  followers. 

That  brave,  loyal,  and  generous  man;  always  vigi- 
lant and  always  active,  beloved  and  feared  alike 
by  white  men  and  by  red,1  had  been  ejected,  as  we 
have  seen,  by  the  agent  of  the  Governor,  La  Barre, 
from  the  command  of  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois. 
An  order  from  the  king  had  reinstated  him  ;  and 
he  no  sooner  heard  the  news  of  La  Salle's  landing 

1  Journal  de  St.  Cosine,  1699,  MS.  This  journal  has  been  printed  by 
Mr.  Shea,  from  the  copy  in  ray  possession.  St.  Cosme,  who  knew  Tonty 
well,  speaks  of  him  in  the  warmest  terms  of  praise. 


1687.]  TONTY.  385 

on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf,  and  of  the  disastrous 
beginnings  of  his  colony,1  than  he  prepared,  on  his 
own  responsibility,  and  at  his  own  cost,  to  go  to  his 
assistance.  He  collected  twenty-five  'Frenchmen, 
and  five  Indians,  and  set  out  from  his  fortified  rock 
on  the  thirteenth  of  February,  1686  ;2  descended  the 
Mississippi,  and  reached  its  mouth  in  Holy  Week. 
All  was  solitude,  a  voiceless  desolation  of  river, 
marsh,  and  sea.  He  despatched  canoes  to  the  east 
and  to  the  west,  searching  the  coast  for  some  thirty 
leagues  on  either  side.  Finding  no  trace  of  his 
friend,  who  at  that  moment  was  ranging  the  prairies 
of  Texas  in  no  less  fruitless  search  of  his  "  fatal 
river,"  Tonty  wrote  for  him  a  letter,  which  he  left 
in  the  charge  of  an  Indian  chief,  who  preserved 
it  with  reverential  care,  and  gave  it,  fourteen 
years  after,  to  Iberville,  the  founder  of  Louisi- 
ana.3 Deeply  disappointed  at  his  failure,  Tonty 
retraced  his  course,  and  ascended  the  Mississippi 
to  the  villages  of  the  Arkansas,  where  some  of 
his  men  volunteered    to  remain.     He  left    six   of 


1  In  the  autumn  of  1685,  Tonty  made  a  journey  from  the  Illinois  to 
Michillimackinac,  to  seek  news  of  La  Salle.  He  there  learned,  by  a  letter 
of  the  new  Governor,  Denonville,  just  arrived  from  France,  of  the  landing 
of  La  Salle,  and  the  loss  of  the  "  Aimable,"  as  recounted  by  Beaujeu  on  his 
return.  He  immediately  went  back  on  foot  to  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illi- 
nois, and  prepared  to  descend  the  Mississippi ;  "  dans  l'esperance  de  lui 
donner  secours."  —  Lettre  de  Tonty  au  Minisire,  24  Aoust,  1686,  and  Me'- 
moire  de  Tonty,  MS. 

2  The  date  is  from  the  letter  cited  above.  In  the  Me'moire,  hastily 
written,  long  after,  he  falls  into  errors  of  date. 

3  Iberville  sent  it  to  France,  and  Charlevoix  gives  a  portion  of  it.  — 
Histoire  de  la  Nouvelle  France,  ii.  259.  Singularly  enough,  the  date,  as 
printed  by  him,  is  erroneous,  being  20  April,  1685,  instead  of  1686.  There 
is  no  doubt,  whatever,  from  its  relations  with  concurrent  events,  that  this 
journey  was  in  the  latter  year. 

33 


386  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1687. 

them ;   and  of  this  number  were  Couture  and  De 
Launay.1  ¥ 

Cavelier  and  his  companions,  followed  by  a 
crowd  of  Indians,  some  carrying  their  baggage, 
some  struggling  for  a  view  of  the  white  strangers, 
entered  the  log  cabin  of  their  two  hosts.  Rude  as 
it  was,  they  found  in  it  an  earnest  of  peace  and 
safety,  and  a  foretaste  of  home.  Couture  and  De 
Launay  were  moved  even  to  tears  by  the  story  of 
their  disasters,  and  of  the  catastrophe  that  crowned 
them.  La  Salle's  death  was  carefully  concealed 
from  the  Indians,  many  of  whom  had  seen  him  on 
his  descent  of  the  Mississippi,  and  who  regarded 
him  with  a  prodigious  respect.  They  lavished  all 
their  hospitality  on  his  followers ;  feasted  them  on 
corn-bread,  dried  buffalo-meat,  and  watermelons, 
and  danced  the  calumet  before  them,  the  most 
august  of  all  their  ceremonies.  On  this  occasion, 
Cavelier's  patience  failed  him  again ;  and  pretend- 
ing, as  before,  to  be  ill,  he  called  on  his  nephew  to 
take  his  place.  There  were  solemn  dances,  too,  in 
which  the  warriors  —  some  bedaubed  with  white 
clay,  some  with  red,  and  some  with  both  ;  some 
wearing  feathers,  and  some  the  horns  of  buffalo  ; 
some  naked,  and  some  in  painted  shirts  of  deer-skin 
fringed  with  scalp-locks,  insomuch,  says  Joutel, 
that  they  looked  like  a  troop  of  devils  —  leaped, 
stamped,  and  howled  from  sunset  till  dawn.  All 
this  was  partly  to  do  the  travellers  honor,  and 
partly  to  extort  presents.     They  made  objections, 

1  Tonty,  Me'moire,  MS. ;  Ibid.,  Lettre  a  Monseigneur  de  Ponchartrain, 
1690,  MS. ;  Joutel,  301. 


1687.]  THE   MISSISSIPPI.  387 

however,  when  asked  to  furnish  guides  ;  and  it  was 
only  by  dint  of  great  offers,  that  four  were  at  length 
procured.  With  these,  the  travellers  resumed  their 
journey  in  a  wooden  canoe,  about  the  first  of  Au- 
gust,1 descended  the  Arkansas,  and  soOn  reached 
the  dark  and  inexorable  river,  so  long  the  object 
of  their  search,  rolling  like  a  destiny  through  its 
realms  of  solitude  and  shade.  They  launched  forth 
on  its  turbid  bosom,  plied  their  oars  against  the 
current,  and  slowly  won  their  way  upward,  follow- 
ing the  writhings  of  this  watery  monster  through 
cane-brake,  swamp,  and  fen.  It  was  a  hard  and 
toilsome  journey  under  the  sweltering  sun  of  August, 
now  on  the  water,  now  knee-deep  in  mud,  dragging 
their  canoe  through  the  unwholesome  jungle.  On 
the  nineteenth,  they  passed  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  ; 
and  their  Indian  guides  made  it  an  offering  of 
buffalo-meat.  On  the  first  of  September,  they 
passed  the  Missouri,  and  soon  after  saw  Mar- 
quette's pictured  rock,  and  ,the  line  of  craggy 
heights  on  the  east  shore,  marked  on  old  French 
maps  as  "  the  Ruined  Castles."  Then,  with  a 
sense  of  relief,  they  turned  from  the  great  river  into 
the  peaceful  current  of  the  Illinois.  They  were 
eleven  days  in  ascending  it,  in  their  large  and  heavy 
wooden  canoe,  when,  at  length,  on  the  afternoon 

1  Joutel  says  that  the  Parisian  hoy  Barthelemy  was  left  behind.  It 
was  this  youth  who  afterwards  uttered  the  ridiculous  defamation  of  La 
Salle  mentioned  in  a  preceding  note  (see  ante,  p.  367).  The  account  of 
the  death  ef  La  Salle,  tpken  from  the  lips  of  Couture  {ibid.),  was  received 
by  him  from  Cavelier  and  his  companions  during  their  stay  at  the  Arkan- 
sas.    Couture  was  by  trade  a  carpenter,  and  was  a  native  of  Rouen. 


388  THE  INNOCENT  AND  THE   GUILTY.  [1687. 

of  the  fourteenth  of  September,  they  saw,  tower- 
ing above  the  forest  and  the  river,  the  cliff  crowned 
with  the  palisades  of  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois. 
As  they  drew  near,  a  troop  of  Indians,  headed  by  a 
Frenchman,  descended  from  the  rock,  and  fired  their 
guns  to  salute  them.  They  landed,  and  followed 
the  forest  path  that  led  towards  the  fort,  when  they 
were  met  by  Boisrondet,  Tonty's  comrade  in  the 
Iroquois  war,  and  two  other  Frenchmen,  who  no 
sooner  saw  them  than  they  called  out,  demanding 
where  was  La  Salle.  Cavelier,  fearing  lest  he  and 
his  party  would  lose  the  advantages  which  they 
might  derive  from  his  character  of  representative 
of  his  brother,  was  determined  to  conceal  his  death  ; 
and  Joutel,  as  he  himself  confesses,  took  part  in 
the  deceit.  Substituting  equivocation  for  falsehood, 
they  replied  that  he  had  been  with  them  nearly  as 
far  as  the  Cenis  villages,  and  that,  when  they  parted, 
he  was  in  good  health.  This,  so  far  as  they  were 
concerned,  was,  literally  speaking,  true  ;  but  Douay 
and  Teissier,  the  one  a  witness  and  the  other  a 
sharer  in  his  death,  could  not  have  said  so  much, 
without  a  square  falsehood,  and  therefore  evaded 
the  inquiry. 

Threading  the  forest  path,  and  circling  to  the 
rear  of  the  rock,  they  climbed  the  rugged  height, 
and  reached  the  top.  Here  they  saw  an  area, 
encircled  by  the  palisades  that  fenced  the  brink 
of  the  cliff,  and  by  several  dwellings,  a  storehouse, 
and  a  chapel.  There  were  Indian  lodges,  too  ;  for 
some  of  the  red  allies  of  the  French  made  their 


1687.]  THE  JESUIT  ALLOUEZ.  389 

abode  with  them.1  Tonty  was  absent,  fighting 
the  Iroquois ;  but  his  lieutenant,  Bellefontaine, 
received  the  travellers,  and  his  little  garrison  of 
bush-rangers  greeted  them  with  a  salute  of  musk- 
etry, mingled  with  the  whooping  of  the  Indians.  A 
Te  Deum  followed  at  the  chapel ;  "  and,  with  all 
our  hearts,"  says  Joutel,  "  we  gave  thanks  to  God 
who  had  preserved  and  guided  us."  At  length, 
the  tired  travellers  were  among  countrymen  and 
friends.  Bellefontaine  found  a  room  for  the  two 
priests ;  while  Joutel,  Teissier,  and  young  Cavelier 
were  lodged  in  the  storehouse. 

The  Jesuit  Allouez  was  lying  ill  at  the  fort ;  and 
Joutel,  Cavelier,  and  Douay  went  to  visit  him.  He 
showed  great  anxiety  when  told  that  La  Salle  was 
alive,  and  on  his  way  to  the  Illinois  ;  asked  many 
questions,  and  could  not  hide  his  agitation.  When, 
some  time  after,  he  had  partially  recovered,  he  left 
St.  Louis,  as  if  to  shun  a  meeting  with  the  object 
of  his  alarm.2     Once  before,  in  1679,  Allouez  had 


1  The  condition  of  Fort  St.  Louis  at  this  time  may  be  gathered  from 
several  passages  of  Joutel.  The  houses,  he  says,  were  built  at  the  brink 
of  the  cliff,  forming,  with  the  palisades,  the  circle  of  defence.  The  Indians 
lived  in  the  area. 

2  Joutel  adds  that  this  was  occasioned  by  "  une  espece  de  conspiration 
qu'on  a  voulu  faire  contre  les  interests  de  Monsieur  de  la  Salle." 

La  Salle  always  saw  the  influence  of  the  Jesuits  in  the  disasters  that 
befell  him.  His  repeated  assertion,  that  they  wished  to  establish  them- 
selves in  the  Valley  of  the  Mississippi,  receives  confirmation  from  a  docu- 
ment entitled,  M&moire  sur  la  proposition  a  faire  par  les  R.  Peres  Je'suites  pour 
la  decouverte  des  environs  de  la  riviere  du  Mississipi  et  pour  voir  si  die  est 
navigable  jusqu'a  la  mer.  It  is  a  memorandum  of  propositions  to  be  made 
to  the  minister  Seignelay,  and  was  apparently  put  forward  as  a  feeler,  before 
making  the  propositions  in  form.  It  was  written  after  the  return  of  Beau- 
jeu  to  France,  and  before  La  Salle's  death  became  known.  It  intimates 
that  the  Jesuits  were  entitled  to  precedence  in  the  Valley  of  the  Missis- 

33* 


390  THE  INNOCENT   AND  THE   GUILTY.  [1687 

fled  from  the  Illinois  on  hearing  of  the  approach 
of  La  Salle. 

The  season  was  late,  and  they  were  eager  to 
hasten  forward  that  they  might  reach  Quebec  in 
time  to  return  to  France  in  the  autumn  ships. 
There  was  not  a  day  to  lose.  They  bade  farewell 
to  Bellefontaine,  from  whom,  as  from  all  others, 
they  had  concealed  the  death  of  La  Salle,  and  made 
their  way  across  the  country  to  Chicago.  Here 
they  were  detained  a  week  by  a  storm ;  and,  when 
at  length  they  embarked  in  a  canoe  furnished  by 
Bellefontaine,  the  tempest  soon  forced  them  to  put 
back.  On  this,  they  abandoned  their  design,  and 
returned  to  Fort  St.  Louis,  to  the  astonishment  of 
its  inmates. 

It  was  October  when  they  arrived ;  and,  mean- 
while, Tonty  had  returned  from  the  Iroquois  war, 

sippi,  as  having  first  explored  it.  It  affirms  that  La  Salle  had  made  a 
blunder  and  landed  his  colony,  not  at  the  mouth  of  the  river,  but  at  another  place, 
and  it  asks  permission  to  continue  the  work  in  which  he  has  failed.  To 
this  end  it  petitions  for  means  to  build  a  vessel  at  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois, 
together  with  canoes,  arms,  tents,  tools,  provisions,  and  merchandise  for 
the  Indians  ;  and  it  also  asks  for  La  Salle's  maps  and  papers,  and  for  those 
of  Beaujeu.  On  their  part,  it  pursues,  the  Jesuits  will  engage  to  make 
a  complete  survey  of  the  river,  and  return  an  exact  account  of  its  in- 
habitants, its  plants,  and  its  other  productions. 

How  did  the  Jesuits  learn  that  La  Salle  had  missed  the  mouths  of  the 
Mississippi  1  He  himself  did  not  know  it  when  Beaujeu  left  him  ;  for  he 
dated  his  last  letter  to  the  minister  from  the  "  Western  Mouth  of  the 
Mississippi."  I  have  given  the  proof  that  Beaujeu,  after  leaving  him, 
found  the  true  mouth  of  the  river,  and  made  a  map  of  it  (ante,  p.  330,  note). 
Now  Beaujeu  was  in  close  relations  with  the  Jesuits,  for  he  mentions  in 
one  of  his  letters  that  his  wife  was  devotedly  attached  to  them.  These 
circumstances,  taken  together,  may  justify  the  suspicion  that  Jesuit  in- 
fluence had  some  connection  with  Beaujeu's  treacherous  desertion  of  La 
Salle  ;  and  that  this  complicity  had  some  connection  with  the  uneasiness 
of  Allouez  when  told  that  La  Salle  was  on  his  way  to  the  Illinois. 


1688.]  RETURN   OF   TONTY.  391 

where  he  had  borne  a  conspicuous  part  in  the 
famous  attack  on  the  Senecas,  by  the  Marquis  de 
Denonville.1  He  listened  with  deep  interest  to  the 
mournful  story  of  his  guests.  Cavelier  knew  him 
well.  He  knew,  so  far  as  he  was  capable  of 
knowing,  his  generous  and  disinterested  character, 
his  long  and  faithful  attachment  to  La  Salle,  and 
the  invaluable  services  he  had  rendered  him.  Tonty 
had  every  claim  on  his  confidence  and  affection. 
Yet  he  did  not  hesitate  to  practise  on  him  the  same 
deceit  wliich  he  had  practised  on  Belief ontaine. 
He  told  him  that  he  had  left  his  brother  in  good 
health  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico ;  and,  adding  fraud 
to  meanness,  drew  upon  him  in  La  Salle's  name  for 
an  amount  stated  by  Joutel  at  about  four  thousand 
livres,  in  furs,  besides  a  canoe  and  a  quantity  of 
other  goods,  all  of  which  were  delivered  to  him  by 
the  unsuspecting  victim.2 

1  Tonty,  Du  Lhut,  and  Durantaye  came  to  the  aid  of  Denonville  with 
a  hundred  and  seventy  Frenchmen,  chiefly  coureurs  de  hois,  and  three  hun- 
dred Indians  from  the  upper  country.  Their  services  were  highly  appre- 
ciated, and  Tonty  especially  is  mentioned  in  the  despatches  of  Denonville 
with  great  praise. 

2  "  Monsieur  Tonty,  croyant  M.  de  la  Salle  vivant,  ne  fit  pas  de  diffi- 
culty de  luy  donner  pour  environ  quatre  mille  liv.  de  pelleterie,  de  castors, 
loutres,  un  canot,  et  autres  effets."  —  Joutel,  349. 

Tonty  himself  does  not  make  the  amount  so  great  :  "  Sur  ce  qu'ils 
m'assuroient  qu'il  etoit  reste  au  golfe  de  Mexique  en  bonne  sante,  je  les 
recus  comme  si  c'avoit  este  lui  mesme  et  luy  prestay  (a  Cavelier)  plus  de 
700  francs."  —  Tonty,  M&noire. 

Cavelier  must  have  known  that  La  Salle  was  insolvent.  Tonty  had 
long  served  without  pay.  Douay  says  that  he  made  the  stay  of  the  party 
at  the  fort  very  agreeable,  and  speaks  of  him,  with  some  apparent  com- 
punction, as  "  ce  brave  Gentilhomme,  toujours  inseparablement  attache 
aux  interets  du  sieur  de  la  Salle,  dont  nous  luy  avons  cache'  la  deplorable 
destinee." 

Couture,  from  the  Arkansas,  brought  word  to  Tonty,  several  months 


392  THE  INNOCENT  AND   THE   GUILTY.  [1688. 

This  was  at  the  end  of  the  winter,  when  the 
old  priest  and  his  companions  had  been  living 
for  months  on  Tonty's  hospitality.  They  set  out 
for  Canada  on  the  twenty-first  of  March,  reached 
Chicago  on  the  twenty-ninth,  and  thence  proceeded 
to  Michillimackinac.  Here  Cavelier  sold  some  of 
Tonty's  furs  to  a  merchant,  who  gave  him  in  pay- 
ment a  draft  on  Montreal,  thus  putting  him  in  funds 
for  his  voyage  home.  The  party  continued  their 
journey  in  canoes  by  way  of  French  River  and 
the  Ottawa,  and  safely  reached  Montreal  on  the 
seventeenth  of  July.  Here  they  procured  the  cloth- 
ing of  which  they  were  wofully  in  need,  and  then 
descended  the  river  to  Quebec,  where  they  took 
lodging,  some  with  the  Recollet  friars,  and  some 
with  the  priests  of  the  Seminary,  in  order  to  escape 
the  questions  of  the  curious.  At  the  end  of  August, 
they  embarked  for  France,  and  early  in  October 
arrived  safely  at  Rochelle.  None  of  the  party  were 
men  of  especial  energy  or  force  of  character ;  and 
yet,  under  the  spur  of  a  dire  necessity7,  they  had 
achieved  one  of  the  most  adventurous  journeys  on 
record. 

Now,  at  length,  they  disburdened  themselves  of 
their  gloomy  secret ;  but  the  sole  result  seems  to 
have  been  an  order  from  the  king  for  the  arrest 
of  the  murderers,  should  they  appear  in  Canada.' 

after,  of  La  Salle's  death,  adding  that  Cavelier  had  concealed  it,  with  no 
other  purpose  than  that  of  gaining  money  or  supplies  from  him  (Tonty), 
in  his  brother's  name. 

1  Lettre  du  Roy  a  DtnonviUe,  1  Mai,  1689,  MS.  Joutel  must  have  been 
a  young  man  at  the  time  of  the  Mississippi  expedition,  for  Charlevoix  saw 
him  at  Rouen,  thirty-five  years  after.     He  speaks  of  him  with  emphatic 


1688.]  RETURN  TO  FRANCE.     -  393 

The  wretched   exiles  of  Texas  were   thought,  it 
may  be,  already  beyond  the  reach  of  succor. 


praise,  but  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  connivance  in  the  deception  prac- 
tised by  Cavelier  on  Tonty  leaves  a  shade  on  his  character  as  well  as  on 
that  of  Douay.  In  other  respects,  every  thing  that  appears  concerning 
him  is  highly  favorable,  which  is  not  the  case  with  Douay,  who,  on  one 
or  two  occasions,  makes  wilful  misstatements. 

Douay  says  that  the  ekler  Cavelier  made  a  report  of  the  expedition  to 
the  minister  Seignelay.  This  report  remained  unknown  in  an  English 
collection  of  autographs  and  old  manuscripts,  whence  I  obtained  it  by 
purchase,  in  1854,  both  the  buyer  and  seller  being  at  the  time  ignorant 
of  its  exact  character.  It  proved,  on  examination,  to  be  a  portion  of  the 
first  draft  of  Cavelier's  report  to  Seignelay.  It  consists  of  twenty-six 
small  folio  pages,  closely  written  in  a  clear  band,  though  in  a  few  places 
obscured  by  the  fading  of  the  ink,  as  well  as  by  occasional  erasures  and 
interlineations  of  the  writer.  It  is,  as  already  stated,  confused  and  un- 
satisfactory in  its  statements  ;  and  all  the  latter  part  has  been  lost. 

Soon  after  reaching  France,  Cavelier  addressed  to  the  king  a  memorial 
on  the  importance  of  keeping  possession  of  the  Illinois.  It  closes  with  an 
earnest  petition  for  money,  in  compensation  for  his  losses,  as,  according  to 
his  own  statement,  he  was  completely  €puis€.  It  is  affirmed  in  a  memorial 
of  the  heirs  of  his  cousin,  Francois  Plet,  that  he  concealed  the  death  of  La 
Salle  some  time  after  his  return  to  France,  in  order  to  get  possession  of 
property  which  would  otherwise  have  been  seized  by  the  creditors  of  the 
deceased.  The  prudent  Abbe  died  rich  and  very  old,  at  the  house  of  a 
relative,  having  inherited  a  large  estate  after  his  return  from  America. 
Apparently,  this  did  not  satisfy  him  ;  for  there  is  before  me  the  copy  of 
a  petition,  written  about  1717,  in  which  he  asks,  jointly  with  one  of  Ms 
nephews,  to  be  given  possession  of  the  seignorial  property  held  by  La 
Salle  in  America.     The  petition  was  refused. 

Young  Cavelier,  La  Salle's  nephew,  died  some  years  after,  an  officer 
in  a  regiment.  He  has  been  erroneously  supposed  to  be  the  same  with 
one  De  la  Salle,  whose  name  is  appended  to  a  letter  giving  an  account  of 
Louisiana,  and  dated  at  Toulon,  3  Sept.  1698.  This  person  was  the  son 
of  a  naval  official  at  Toulon,  and  was  not  related  to  the  Caveliers. 


CHAPTER  XXVni. 

1688-1689. 

FATE   OF  THE   TEXAN    COLONY. 

tonty  attempts  to  rescue  the  colonists. —  his  difficulties  and 
Hardships.  —  Spanish  Hostility.  —  Expedition  of  Alonzo  De  Leon. 
—  He  reaches  Fort  St.  Louis. — A  Scene  of  Havoc.  —  Destruc- 
tion of  the  French.  —  The  End. 

Henri  de  Tonty,  on  his  rock  of  St.  Louis,  was 
visited  in  September  by  Couture,  and  two  Indians 
from  the  Arkansas.  Then,  for  the  first  time,  he  heard 
with  grief  and  indignation  of  the  death  of  La  Salle, 
and  the  deceit  practised  by  Cavelier.  The  chief 
whom  he  had  served  so  well  was  beyond  his  help ; 
but  might  not  the  unhappy  colonists  left  on  the 
shores  of  Texas  still  be  rescued  from  destruction? 
Couture  had  confirmed  what  Cavelier  and  his 
party  had  already  told  him,  that  the  tribes  south  of 
the  Arkansas  were  eager  to  join  the  French  in  an 
invasion  of  northern  Mexico  ;  and  he  soon  after 
received  from  the  Governor,  Denonville,  a  letter 
informing  him  that  war  had  again  been  declared 
against  Spain.  As  bold  and  enterprising  as  La 
Salle  himself,  he  resolved  on  an  effort  to  learn  the 
condition  of  the  few  Frenchmen  left  on  the  borders 
of  the   Gulf,  relieve  their  necessities,  and,  should 


1688.]  COURAGE  OF  TONTY.  395 

it  prove  practicable,  make  them  the  nucleus  of  a 
war-party  to  cross  the  Rio  Grande,  and  add  a  new 
province  to  the  domain  of  France.  It  was  the 
revival,  on  a  small  scale,  of  La  Salle's  scheme  of 
Mexican  invasion  ;  and  there  is  no  doubt  that,  with 
a  score  of  French  musketeers,  he  could  have  gath- 
ered a  formidable  party  of  savage  allies  from  the 
tribes  of  Red  River,  the  Sabine,  and  the  Trinity. 
This  daring  adventure  and  the  rescue  of  his  suffer- 
ing countrymen  divided  his  thoughts,  and  he  pre- 
pared at  once  to  execute  the  double  purpose.1 

He  left  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois  early  in 
December,  in  a  pirogue,  or  wooden  canoe,  with 
five  Frenchmen,  a  Shawanoe  warrior,  and  two  In- 
dian slaves ;  and,  after  a  long  and  painful  journey, 
reached  the  villages  of  the  Caddoes  on  Red  River 
on  the  twenty-eighth  of  March.  Here  he  was  told 
that  Hiens  and  his  companions  were  at  a  village 
eighty  leagues  distant,  and  thither  he  was  preparing 
to  go  in  search  of  them,  when  all  his  men,  except- 
ing the  Shawanoe  and  one  Frenchman,  declared 
themselves  disgusted  with  the  journey,  and  refused 
to  follow  him.  Persuasion  was  useless,  and  there 
was  no  means  of  enforcing  obedience.  He  found 
himself  abandoned;  but  he  still  pushed  on,  with 
the  two  who  remained  faithful.  A  few  days  after, 
they  lost  nearly  all  their  ammunition  in  crossing 
a  river.  Undeterred  by  this  accident,  Tonty  made 
his  way  to  the  village  where  Hiens  and  those  who 
had  remained  with  him  were  said  to  be :  but  no 
trace  of  them  appeared ;  and  the  demeanor  of  the 

1  Tonty,  Mtmoire,  MS. 


396  FATE   OF   THE   TEXAN   COLONY.  [1689. 

Indians,  when  he  inquired  for  them,  convinced  him 
that  they  had  been  put  to  death.  He  charged  them 
with  having  killed  the  Frenchmen,  whereupon  the 
women  of  the  village  raised  a  wail  of  lamentation ; 
"  and  I  saw,"  he  says,  "  that  what  I  had  said  to 
them  was  true."  They  refused  to  give  him  guides  ; 
and  this,  with  the  loss  of  his  ammunition,  compelled 
him  to  forego  his  purpose  of  making  his  way  to 
the  colonists  on  the  Bay  of  St.  Louis.  With  bitter 
disappointment,  he  and  his  two  companions  retraced 
their  course,  and  at  length  approached  Red  River. 
Here  they  found  the  whole  country  flooded.  Some- 
times they  waded  to  the  knees,  sometimes  to  the 
neck,  sometimes  pushed  their  slow  way  on  rafts. 
Night  and  day,  it  rained  without  ceasing.  They 
slept  on  logs  placed  side  by  side  to  raise  them 
above  the  mud  and  water,  and  fought  their  way 
with  hatchets  through  the  inundated  cane-brakes. 
They  found  no  game  but  a  bear,  which  had  taken 
refuge  on  an  island  in  the  flood ;  and  they  were 
forced  to  eat  their  dogs.  "  I  never  in  my  life," 
writes  Tonty,  "  suffered  so  much."  In  judging  these 
intrepid  exertions,  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  he 
was  not,  at  least  in  appearance,  of  a  robust  con- 
stitution, and  that  he  had  but  one  hand.  They 
reached  the  Mississippi  on  the  eleventh  of  July, 
and  the  Arkansas  villages  on  the  thirty-first.  Here 
Tonty  was  detained  by  an  attack  of  fever.  He 
resumed  his  journey  when  it  began  to  abate,  and 
reached  his  fort  of  the  Illinois  in  September.1 

1  Two  causes  have  contributed  to  detract,  most  unjustly,  from  Tonty's 
reputation :  the  publication,  under  his  name,  but  without  his  authority,  of 


1689.]  SPANISH  HOSTILITY.  397 

While  the  king  of  France  abandoned  the  exiles 
of  Texas  to  their  fate,  a  power  dark,  ruthless,  and 
terrible,  was  hovering  around  the  feeble  colony  on 
the  Bay  of  St.  Louis,  searching  with  pitiless  eye 


a  perverted  account  of  the  enterprises  in  which  he  took  part ;  and  the 
confounding  him  with  his  brother,  Alphonse  de  Tonty,  who  long  com- 
manded at  Detroit,  where  charges  of  peculation  were  brought  against 
him.  There  are  very  few  names  in  French-American  history  mentioned 
with  such  unanimity  of  praise  as  that  of  Henri  de  Tonty.  Hennepin 
finds  some  fault  with  him,  but  his  censure  is  commendation.  The  de- 
spatches of  the  Governor,  Denonville,  speak  in  strong  terms  of  his  ser- 
vices in  the  Iroquois  war,  praise  his  character,  and  declare  that  he  is  fit 
for  any  bold  enterprise,  adding  that  he  deserves  reward  from  the  king. 
The  missionary,  St.  Cosme,  who  travelled  under  his  escort  in  1699,  says 
of  him :  "  He  is  beloved  by  all  the  voyageurs."  .  .  "  It  was  with  deep 
regret  that  we  parted  from  him  :  .  .  he  is  the  man  who  best  knows  the 
country :  .  .  he  is  loved  and  feared  everywhere.  .  .  .  Your  grace  will,  I 
doubt  not,  take  pleasure  in  acknowledging  the  obligations  we  owe  him." 

Tonty  held  the  commission  of  captain ;  but,  by  a  memoir  which  he 
addresssed  to  Ponchartrain,  in  1690,  it  appears  that  he  had  never  received 
any  pay.  Count  Frontenac  certifies  the  truth  of  the  statement,  and  adds 
a  recommendation  of  the  writer.  In  consequence,  probably,  of  this,  the 
proprietorship  of  Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois  was  granted  in  the  same 
year  to  Tonty,  jointly  with  La  Forest,  formerly  La  Salle's  lieutenant. 
Here  they  carried  on  a  trade  in  furs.  In  1699,  a  royal  declaration  was 
launched  against  the  coureurs  de  bois ;  but  an  express  provision  was  added 
in  favor  of  Tonty  and  La  Forest,  who  were  empowered  to  send  up  the 
country  yearly  two  canoes,  with  twelve  men,  for  the  maintenance  of 
this  fort.  With  such  a  limitation,  this  fort  and  the  trade  carried  on  at  it 
must  have  been  very  small.  In  1702,  we  find  a  royal  order  to  the  effect 
that  La  Forest  is  henceforth  to  reside  in  Canada,  and  Tonty  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi ;  and  that  the  establishment  at  the  Illinois  is  to  be  discontinued. 
In  the  same  year,  Tonty  joined  DTberville  in  Lower  Louisiana,  and  was 
sent  by  that  officer  from  Mobile  to  secure  the  Chickasaws  in  the  French 
interest.  His  subsequent  career  and  the  time  of  his  death  do  not  appear. 
He  seems  never  to  have  received  the  reward  which  his  great  merit  de- 
served. Those  intimate  with  the  late  lamented  Dr.  Sparks  will  remem- 
ber his  often-expressed  wish  that  justice  should  be  done  to  the  memory 
of  Tonty. 

Fort  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois  was  afterwards  reoccupied  by  the 
French.  In  1718,  a  number  of  them,  chiefly  traders,  were  living  here ; 
but,  three  years  later,  it  was  again  deserted,  and  Charlevoix,  passing  the 
epot,  saw  only  the  remains  of  its  palisades. 

34 


398  FATE   OF   THE   TEXAN   COLONY.  [1689. 

to  discover  and  tear  out  that  dying  germ  of  civiliza- 
tion from  the  bosom  of  the  wilderness  in  whose 
savage  immensity  it  lay  hidden.  Spain  claimed 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  all  its  coasts  as  her  own 
of  unanswerable  right,  and  the  viceroys  of  Mexico 
were  strenuous  to  enforce  her  claim.  The  capture 
of  one  of  La  Salle's  four  vessels  at  St.  Domingo 
had  made  known  his  designs,  and,  in  the  course 
of  the  three  succeeding  years,  no  less  than  four 
expeditions  were  sent  out  from  Vera  Cruz  to  find 
and  destroy  him.  They  scoured  the  whole  extent 
of  the  coast,  and  found  the  wrecks  of  the  "  Aim- 
able"  and  the  "  Belle;"  but  the  colony  of  St.  Louis,1 
inland  and  secluded,  escaped  then  search.  For  a 
time,  the  jealousy  of  the  Spaniards  was  lulled  to 
sleep.  They  rested  in  the  assurance  that  the  in- 
truders had  perished,  when  fresh  advices  from  the 
frontier  province  of  New  Leon  caused  the  Viceroy. 
Galve,  to  order  a  strong  force,  under  Alonzo  de 
Leon,  to  march  from  Coahuila,  and  cross  the  Rio 
Grande.  Guided  by  a  French  prisoner,  probably 
one  of  the  deserters  from  La  Salle,  they  pushed 
their  way  across  wild  and  arid  plains,  rivers,  prairies, 
and  forests,  till  at  length  they  approached  the  Bay  of 
St.  Louis,  and  descried,  far  off,  the  harboring-place 
of  the  French.2  As  they  drew  near,  no  banner  was 
displayed,  no  sentry  challenged ;  and  the  silence 
of  death  reigned  over  the  shattered  palisades  and 

1  Fort  St.  Louis  cf  Texas  is  net  to  bo  confounded  with  Fort  St.  Louis 
of  the  Illinois. 

2  After  crossing  the  Del  Norte,  they  crossed  in  turn  the  Upper  Nueces, 
the  Hondo  (Rio  Frio),  the  De  Leon  (San  Antonio),  and  the  Guadalupe, 
and  then,  turning  southward,  descended  to  the  Bay  of  St.  Bernard.  — 


1689.]  THE  WHITE   SAVAGES.  399 

neglected  dwellings.  The  Spaniards  spurred  their 
reluctant  horses  through  the  gateway,  and  a  scene 
of  desolation  met  their  sight.  No  living  thing 
was  stirring.  Doors  were  torn  from  their  hinges ; 
broken  boxes,  staved  barrels,  and  rusty  kettles, 
mingled  with  a  great  number  of  stocks  of  arque- 
buses and  muskets,  were  scattered  about  in  confu- 
sion. Here,  too,  trampled  in  mud  and  soaked  with 
rain,  they  saw  more  than  two  hundred  books,  many 
of  which  still  retained  the  traces  of  costly  bindings. 
On  the  adjacent  prairie  lay  three  dead  bodies,  one 
of  which,  from  fragments  of  dress  still  clinging  to 
the  wasted  remains,  they  saw  to  be  that  of  a  woman. 
It  was  in  vain  to  question  the  imperturbable  sava- 
ges, who,  wrapped  to  the  throat  in  their  buffalo- 
robes,  stood  gazing  on  the  scene  with  looks  of 
wooden  immobility.  Two  strangers,  however,  at 
length  arrived.1  Their  faces  were  smeared  with 
paint,  and  they  were  wrapped  in  buffalo-robes  like 
the  rest ;  yet  these  seemhig  Indians  were  L'Arche- 
veque,  the  tool  of  La  Salle's  murderer,  Duhaut,  and 
Grollet,  the  companion  of  the  white  savage,  Enter. 
The  Spanish  commander,  learning  that  these  two 
men  were  in  the  district  of  the  tribe  called  Texas,2 

Manuscript  map  of  "  Route  que  firent  les  Espagnols,  pour  venir  enlever 
les  Franeais  restez  a  la  Baye  St.  Bernard  ou  St.  Louis,  apres  la  perte  du 
vaisseau  de  M>  de  la  Salle,  en  1689."  —  Margry's  collection. 

1  May  1st.     The  Spaniards  reached  the  fort  April  22d. 

2  This  is  the  first  instance  in  which  the  name  occurs.  In  a  letter 
written  by  a  member  of  De  Leon's  party,  the  Texan  Indians  are  men- 
tioned several  times.  —  See  Coleccion  de  Varios  Documentos,  25.  Tiiey  are 
described  as  an  agricultural  tribe,  and  were,  to  all  appearance,  identical 
with  the  Cenis.  The  name  Tejas,  or  Texas,  was  first  applied  as  a  local 
designation  to  a  spot  on  the  River  Neches,  in  the  Cenis  territory,  whence 
it  extended  to  the  whole  country.  —  See  Yoakum,  History  of  Texas,  62. 


400  FATE   OF  THE   TEXAN   COLONY.  [1689. 

had  sent  to  invite  them  to  his  camp  under  a  pledge 
of  good  treatment ;  and  they  had  resolved  to  trust 
Spanish  clemency  rather  than  endure  longer  a 
life  that  had  become  intolerable.  From  them, 
the  Spaniards  learned  nearly  all  that  is  known 
of  the  fate  of  Barbier,  Zenobe  Membre,  and  their 
companions.  Three  months  before,  a  large  band 
of  Indians  had  approached  the  fort,  the  inmates 
of  which  had  suffered  severely  from  the  ravages  of 
the  small-pox.  From  fear  of  treachery,  they  re- 
fused to  admit  their  visitors,  but  received  them  at 
a  cabin  without  the  palisades.  Here  the  French 
began  a  trade  with  them ;  when  suddenly  a  band 
of  warriors,  yelling  the  war-whoop,  rushed  from 
an  ambuscade  under  the  bank  of  the  river,  and 
butchered  the  greater  number.  The  children  of 
one  Talon,  together  with  an  Italian  and  a  young 
man  from  Paris,  named  Breman,  were  saved  by 
the  Indian  women,  who  carried  them  off  on  their 
backs.  L'Archeveque  and  Grollet,  who,  with  others 
of  their  stamp,  were  domesticated  in  the  Indian 
villages,  came  to  the  scene  of  slaughter,  and,  as 
they  affirmed,  buried  fourteen  dead  bodies.1 


1  Derrotero  de  la  Jornada  que  hizo  el  General  Alonso  de  Leon  para  el  dcscu- 
brimiento  de  la  Bahia  del  Esptritu  Santo,  y  poblacion  de  Franceses.  Ano  de 
1689,  MS.  This  is  the  official  journal  of  the  expedition,  signed  by  Alonzo 
de  Leon.  I  am  indebted  to  Colonel  Thomas  Aspinwall  for  the  opportunity 
of  examining  it.  The  name  of  Espiritu  Santo  was,  as  before  mentioned, 
given  by  the  Spaniards  to  St.  Louis  or  Matagorda  Bay,  as  well  as  to  two 
other  bays  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Carta  en  que  se  da  noticia  de  un  viaje  hecho  a  la  Bahia  de  Espiritu  Santo  y 
de  la  poblacion  que  tenian  ahi  los  Franceses.  Coleccion  de  Varios  Documentos 
para  la  Historia  de  la  Florida,  25. 

This  is  a  letter  from  a  person  accompanying  the  expedition  of  De 
Leon.    It  is  dated  May  18, 1689,  and  agrees  closely  with  the  journal  cited 


U 


1689.]  THE  SURVIVORS.  401 

L'Archeveque  and  Grollet  were  sent  to  Spain, 
where,  in  spite  of  the  pledge  given  them,  they  were 
thrown  into  prison,  with  the  intention  of  sending 
them  back  to  labor  in  the  mines.  The  Indians, 
some  time  after  De  Leon's  expedition,  gave  up 
their  captives  to  the  Spaniards.  The  Italian  was 
imprisoned  at  Vera  Cruz.  Breman's  fate  is  un- 
known. Pierre  and  Jean  Baptiste  Talon,  who 
were  now  old  enough  to  bear  arms,  were  enrolled 
in  the  Spanish  navy,  and,  being  captured  in  1696  by 
a  French  ship  of  war,  regained  their  liberty ;  while 
their  younger  brothers  and  their  sister  were  carried 
to  Spain  by  the  Viceroy.1  With  respect  to  the 
ruffian  companions  of  Hiens,  the  conviction  of 
Tonty  that  they  had  been  put  to  death  by  the 
Indians  may  have  been  well  founded ;  but  the 
buccaneer  himself  is  said  to  have  been  killed  in 

above,  though  evidently  by  another  hand.  Compare  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cro- 
noldgico,  294.  Barcia's  story  has  been  doubted ;  but  these  authentic  docu- 
ments prove  the  correctness  of  his  principal  statements,  though  on  minor 
points  he  seems  to  have  indulged  his  fancy. 

The  viceroy  of  New  Spain,  in  a  report  to  the  king,  1690,  says  that  in 
order  to  keep  the  Texas  and  other  Indians  of  that  region  in  obedience  to 
his  Majesty,  he  has  resolved  to  establish  eight  missions  among  them. 
He  adds  that  he  has  appointed  as  governor,  or  commander,  in  that  province, 
Don  Domingo  Teran  de  los  Rios,  who  will  make  a  thorough  exploration 
of  it,  carry  out  what  De  Leon  has  begun,  prevent  the  farther  intrusion  of 
foreigners  like  La  Salle,  and  go  in  pursuit  of  the  remnant  of  the  French, 
who  are  said  still  to  remain  among  the  tribes  of  Red  River.  I  owe  this 
document  to  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Buckingham  Smith. 

1  Memoire  sur  lequel  on  a  interrog€ les  deux  Canadiens  (Pierre  et  Jean  Bap- 
tiste Talon )  qui  sont  soldats  dans  la  Compaynie  de  Feuguerolles.  A  Brest,  14 
Fevrier,  1698,  MS. 

Interrogations  faites  a  Pierre  et  Jean  Baptiste  Talon  a  leur  arrivee  de  la 
Veracruz,  MS.  This  paper,  which  differs  in  some  of  its  details  from  the 
preceding,  was  sent  by  DTberville,  the  founder  of  Louisiana,  to  the  Abbe 
Cavelier.  Appended  to  it  is  a  letter  from  DTberville,  written  in  May, 
1704,  in  which  lie  confirms  the  chief  statements  of  the  Talons,  by  infor- 
mation obtained  by  him  from  a  Spanish  officer  at  Pensaoola. 

34* 


ULlttAM, 


402  FATE   OF   THE   TEXAN   COLONY.  [1689. 

a  quarrel  with  his  accomplice,  Ruter,  the  white 
savage ;  and  thus  in  ignominy  and  darkness  died 
the  last  embers  of  the  doomed  colony  of  La  Salle. 
Here  ends  the  wild  and  mournful  story  of  the 
explorers  of  the  Mississippi.  Of  all  their  toil  and 
sacrifice,  no  fruit  remained  but  a  great  geographical 
discovery,  and  a  grand  type  of  incarnate  energy  and 
will.  Where  La  Salle  had  ploughed,  others  were 
to  sow  the  seed ;  and  on  the  path  which  the  unde- 
spairing  Norman  had  hewn  out,  the  Canadian 
D'Iberville  was  to  win  for  France  a  vast  though 
a  transient  dominion. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX   I. 


EARLY  UNPUBLISHED  MAPS  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 
AND  THE   GREAT  LAKES. 

Most  of  the  maps  described  below  are  to  be  found  in  the  De'pot  des  Cartes  of 
the  Marine  and  Colonies,  at  Paris.  Taken  together,  they  exhibit  the  progress 
of  western  discovery,  and  illustrate  the  records  of  the  explorers. 

The  Map  of  Galinee,  1670. 

This  map  has  a  double  title  :  Carte  du  Canada  et  des  Terres 
decouuertes  vers  le  lac  Derie,  and  Carte  du  Lac  Ontario  et  des 
habitations  qui  Venuironnent  ensemble  le  pays  que  Messr3,  Dolier  et 
Galinee,  missionnaires  du  seminairede  St.  Sulpice,  ont  parcouru. 
It  professes  to  represent  only  the  country  actually  visited  by  the 
two  missionaries  (see  p.  19,  note).  Beginning  with  Montreal, 
it  gives  the  course  of  the  Upper  St.  Lawrence  and  the  shores  of 
Lake  Ontario,  the  River  Niagara,  the  north  shore  of  Lake  Erie, 
the  Strait  of  Detroit,  and  the  eastern  and  northern  shores  of 
Lake  Huron.  Galinee  did  not  know  the  existence  of  the  penin- 
sula of  Michigan,  and  merges  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan  into 
one,  under  the  name  of  "  Michigan^,  ou  Mer  Douce  des  Hurons." 
He  was  also  entirely  ignorant  of  the  south  shore  of  Lake  Erie. 
He  represents  the  outlet  of  Lake  Superior  as  far  as  the  Saut 
Ste.  Marie,  and  lays  down  the  River  Ottawa  in  great  detail, 
having  descended  it  on  his  return.  The  Falls  of  the  Genessee 
are  indicated,  as  also  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  with  the  inscription, 
"  Sault  qui  tombe  au  rapport  des  sauvages  de  plus  de  200  pieds 


406  APPENDIX. 

de  haut."  Had  the  Jesuits  been  disposed  to  aid  him,  they  could 
have  given  him  much  additional  information,  and  corrected  his 
most  serious  errors  ;  as.  for  example,  the  omission  of  the  penin 
sula  of  Michigan.  The  first  attempt  to  map  out  the  Great 
Lakes  was  that  of  Champlain,  in  1632.  This  of  Galinee  may 
be  called  the  second. 

The  map  of  Lake  Superior,  published  in  the  Jesuit  Relation 
of  1670,  1671,  was  made  at  about  the  same  time  with  Galinee's 
map.  Lake  Superior  is  here  styled  "  Lac  Tracy,  ou  Superieur." 
Though  not  so  exact  as  it  has  been  represented,  this  map  indi- 
cates that  the  Jesuits  had  explored  every  part  of  this  fresh-water 
ocean,  and  that  they  had  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  straits 
connecting  the  three  Upper  Lakes,  and  of  the  adjacent  bays, 
inlets,  and  shores.  The  peninsula  of  Michigan,  ignored  by 
Galine'e,  is  represented  in  its  proper  place. 

About  two  years  after  Galinee  made  the  map  mentioned 
above,  another,  indicating  a  greatly  increased  knowledge  of  the 
country,  was  made  by  some  person  whose  name  does  not  appear, 
but  who  seems  to  have  been  La  Salle  himself.  This  map,  which 
is  somewhat  more  than  four  feet  long  and  about  two  feet  and  a 
half  wide,  has  no  title.  All  the  Great  Lakes,  through  their  entire 
extent,  are  laid  down  on  it  with  considerable  accuracy.  Lake 
Ontario  is  called  "  Lac  Ontario,  ou  de  Frontenac."  Fort  Fron- 
tenac  is  indicated,  as  well  as  the  Iroquois  colonies  of  the  north 
shore.  Niagara  is  "  Chute  haute  de  120  toises  par  oil  le  Lac 
Erie*  tombe  dans  le  Lac  Frontenac."  Lake  Erie  is  "  Lac 
Teiocha-rontiong,  dit  communement  Lac  Erie."  Lake  St.  Clair 
is  "  Tsiketo,  ou  Lac  de  la  Chaudiere."  Lake  Huron  is  "  Lac  Hu- 
ron, ou  Mer  Douce  des  FJurons."  Lake  Superior  is  "  Lac  Supe- 
rieur." Lake  Michigan  is  "  Lac  Mitchiganong,  ou  des  Illinois." 
On  Lake  Michigan,  immediately  opposite  the  site  of  Chicago,  are 
written  the  words,  of  which  the  following  is  the  literal  trans- 
lation :  "  The  largest  vessels  can  come  to  this  place  from  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Erie,  where  it  discharges  into  Lake  Frontenac 
(Ontario)  ;  and  from  this  marsh  into  which  they  can  enter,  there 
is  only  a  distance  of  a  thousand  paces  to  the  River  La  Divine 
(Des  Plaines),  which  can  lead  them  to  the  River  Colbert  (Mis- 


APPENDIX.  407 

sissippi),  and  thence  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico."  This  map  was 
evidently  made  before  the  voyage  of  Joliet  and  Marquette,  and 
after  that  voyage  of  La  Salle,  in  which  he  discovered  the  Illinois, 
or  at  least  the  Des  Plaines  branch  of  it.  It  shows  that  the 
Mississippi  was  known  to  discharge  itself  into  the  Gulf  before 
Joliet  had  explored  it.  The  whole  length  of  the  Ohio  is  laid 
down  with  the  inscription,  "  River  Ohio,  so  called  by  the 
Iroquois  on  account  of  its  beauty,  which  the  Sieur  de  la  Salle 
descended."     (Ante,  p.  23,  note.) 

We  now  come  to  the  map  of  Marquette,  which  is  a  rude 
sketch  of  a  portion  of  Lakes  Superior  and  Michigan,  and  of  the 
route  pursued  by  him  and  Joliet  up  the  Fox  River  of  Green 
Bay,  down  the  Wisconsin,  and  thence  down  the  Mississippi  as  far 
as  the  Arkansas.  The  River  Illinois  is  also  laid  down,  as  it 
was  by  this  course  that  he  returned  to  Lake  Michigan  after  his 
memorable  voyage.  He  gives  no  name  to  the  Wisconsin.  The 
Mississippi  is  called  "  Riviere  de  la  Conception  ; "  the  Missouri, 
the  Pekitanoui ;  and  the  Ohio,  the  Ouabouskiaou,  though  La 
Salle,  its  discoverer,  had  previously  given  it  its  present  name, 
borrowed  from  the  Iroquois.  The  Illinois  is  nameless,  like  the 
Wisconsin.  At  the  mouth  of  a  river,  perhaps  the  Des  Moines, 
Marquette  places  the  three  villages  of  the  Peoria  Indians  visited 
by  him.  These,  with  the  Kaskaskias,  Maroas,  and  others,  on 
the  map,  were  merely  sub-tribes  of  the  aggregation  of  savages, 
known  as  the  Illinois.  On  or  near  the  Missouri,  he  places  the 
Ouchage  (Osages),  the  Oumessoui-it  (Missouris),  the  Kansa 
(Kauzas),  the  Paniassa  (Pawnees),  the  Maha  (Oinahas),  and 
the  Pahoutet  (Pah-Utahs?).  The  names  of  many  other  tribes, 
"  esloignees  dans  les  terres,"  are  also  given  along  the  course  of 
the  Arkansas,  a  river  which  is  nameless  on  the  map.  Most  of 
these  tribes  are  now  indistinguishable.  This  map  has  recently 
been  engraved  and  published. 

Not  long  after  Marquette's  return  from  the  Mississippi,  an- 
other map  was  made  by  the  Jesuits,  with  the  following  title : 
Carte  de  la  nouvelle  decouverte  que  les  peres  lesuites  ont  fait  en 
Vannee  1672,  et  continuee  par  le  P.  Jacques  Marquette  de  la 
mesme  Compagnie  accompagne  de  quelques  fran^ois  en  Vannee 


408  APPENDIX. 

1 673,  qu'on  pourra  nommer  en  francois  la  Manitoumie.  This 
title  is  very  elaborately  decorated  with  figures  drawn  with  a  pen, 
and  representing  Jesuits  instructing  Indians.  The  map  is  the 
same  published  by  Thevenot,  not  without  considerable  variations, 
in  1681.  It  represents  the  Mississippi  from  a  little  above  the  Wis- 
consin to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  part  below  the  Arkansas  being 
drawn  from  conjecture.  The  river  is  named  "  Mitchisipi,  ou 
grande  Riviere."  The  Wisconsin,  the  Illinois,  the  Ohio,  the  Des 
Moines  (?),  the  Missouri,  and  the  Arkansas,  are  all  represented, 
but  in  a  very  rude  manner.  Marquette's  route,  in  going  and 
returning,  is  marked  by  lines  ;  but  the  return  route  is  incorrect. 
The  whole  map  is  so  crude  and  careless,  and  based  on  infor- 
mation so  inexact,  that  it  is  of  little  interest. 

The  Jesuits  made  also  another  map,  without  title,  of  the  four 
Upper  Lakes  and  the  Mississippi  to  a  little  below  the  Arkansas. 
The  Mississippi  is  called  "  Riuuiere  Colbert."  The  map  is 
remarkable  as  including  the  earliest  representation  of  the  Upper 
Mississippi,  based,  perhaps,  on  the  reports  of  Indians.  The 
Falls  of  St.  Anthony  are  indicated  by  the  word  "  Saut."  It  is 
possible  that  the  map  may  be  of  later  date  than  at  first  appears, 
and  that  it  may  have  been  drawn  in  the  interval  between  the 
return  of  Hennepin  from  the  Upper  Mississippi  and  that  of  La 
Salle  from  his  discovery  of  the  mouth  of  the  river.  The  various 
temporary  and  permanent  stations  of  the  Jesuits  are  marked  by 
crosses. 

Of  far  greater  interest  is  the  small  map  of  Louis  Joliet,  made 
and  presented  to  Count  Frontenac  immediately  after  the  dis- 
coverer's return  from  the  Mississippi.  It  is  entitled  Carte  de  la 
decouuerte  du  Sr.  Jolliet  ou  Von  voit  La  Communication  du  Jleuue 
St.  Laurens  auec  les  lacs  frontenac,  Erie,  Lac  des  Hurons  et 
llinois.  Then  succeeds  the  following,  written  in  the  same  anti- 
quated French,  as  if  it  were  a  part  of  the  title  :  "  Lake  Fron- 
tenac [Ontario],  is  separated  by  a  fall  of  half  a  league  from 
Lake  Erie,  from  which  one  enters  that  of  the  Hurons,  and  by 
the  same  navigation,  into  that  of  the  Illinois  [Michigan],  from 
the  head  of  which  one  crosses  to  the  Divine  River  (Riviere 
Divine  ;  i.e.,  the  Des  Plaines  branch  of  the  River  Illinois),  by  a 


APPENDIX.  409 

portage  of  a  thousand  paces.  This  river  falls  into  the  River 
Colbert  [Mississippi],  which  discharges  itself  into  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico."  A  part  of  this  map  is  based  on  the  Jesuit  map  of 
Lake  Superior,  the  legends  being  here  for  the  most  part  identi- 
cal, though  the  shape  of  the  lake  is  better  given  by  Joliet.  The 
Mississippi,  or  "  Riuiere  Colbert,"  is  made  to  flow  from  three 
lakes  in  latitude  47°,  and  it  ends  in  latitude  37°,  a  little  below 
the  mouth  of  the  Ohio,  the  rest  being  apparently  cut  off  to  make 
room  for  Joliet's  letter  to  Frontenac  {ante,  p.  66),  which  is 
written  on  the  lower  part  of  the  map.  The  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi is  called  on  the  map  "  Colbertie,  ou  Amerique  Occiden- 
tale."  The  Missouri  is  represented  without  name,  and  against 
it  is  a  legend,  of  which  the  following  is  the  literal  translation : 
"  By  one  of  these  great  rivers  which  come  from  the  west  and 
discharge  themselves  into  the  River  Colbert,  one  will  find  a  way 
to  enter  the  Vermilion  Sea  (Gulf  of  California).  I  have  seen 
a  village  which  was  not  more  than  twenty  days'  journey  by  land 
from  a  nation  which  has  commerce  with  those  of  California.  If 
I  had  come  two  days  sooner,  I  should  have  spoken  with  those 
who  had  come  from  thence,  and  had  brought  four  hatchets  as  a 
present."  The  Ohio  has  no  name,  but  a  legend  over  it  states 
that  La  Salle  had  descended  it.     (See  ante,  p.  23,  note.) 

Joliet,  at  about  the  same  time,  made  another  map,  larger  than 
that  just  mentioned,  but  not  essentially  different.  The  letter  to 
Frontenac  is  written  upon  both.  There  is  a  third  map,  bearing 
his  name,  of  which  the  following  is  the  title  :  Carte  generalle  de 
la  France  septentrionale  contenant  la  descouuerte  du  pays  des 
Illinois,  faite  par  le  Sr'  Jolliet.  This  map,  which  is  inscribed 
with  a  dedication  by  the  Intendant  Duchesneau  to  the  minister 
Colbert,  was  made  some  time  after  the  voyage  of  Joliet  and 
Marquette.  It  is  an  elaborate  piece  of  work,  but  very  inaccu- 
rate. It  represents  the  continent  from  Hudson's  Strait  to  Mex- 
ico and  California,  with  the  whole  of  the  Atlantic  and  a  part  of 
the  Pacific  coast.  An  open  sea  is  made  to  extend  from  Hud- 
son's Strait  westward  to  the  Pacific.  The  St.  Lawrence  and 
all  the  Great  Lakes  are  laid  down  with  tolerable  correctness,  as 
also  is  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.     The  Mississippi,  called  "  Messa- 

35 


410  APPENDIX. 

sipi,"  flows  into  the  Gulf,  from  which  it  extends  northward 
nearly  to  the  "  Mer  du  Nord."  Along  its  course,  above  the 
Wisconsin,  which  is  called  "  Miskous,"  is  a  long  list  of  Indian 
tribes,  most  of  which  cannot  now  be  recognized,  though  several 
are  clearly  sub-tribes  of  the  Sioux.  The  Ohio  is  called  "  Oua- 
boustikou."  The  whole  map  is  decorated  with  numerous  figures 
of  animals,  natives  of  the  country,  or  supposed  to  be  so.  Among 
them  are  camels,  ostriches,  and  a  giraffe,  which  are  placed  on 
the  plains  west  of  the  Mississippi.  But  the  most  curious  figure 
is  that  which  represents  one  of  the  monsters  seen  by  Joliet  and 
Marquette,  painted  on  a  rock  by  the  Indians.  It  corresponds 
with  Marquette's  description  (ante,  p.  59).  This  map,  if  really 
the  work  of  Joliet,  does  more  credit  to  his  skill  as  a  designer 
than  to  his  geographical  knowledge,  which  appears  in  some 
respects  behind  his  time. 

A  map  made  by  Raudin,  Count  Frontenac's  engineer,  may 
be  mentioned  here.  He  calls  the  Mississippi  "  Riviere  de 
Buade,"  from  the  family  name  of  his  patron,  and  christens  all 
the  adjoining  region  "  Frontenacie,"  or  "  Frontenacia." 

In  the  Bibliotheque  Imperiale  is  the  rude  map  of  the  Jesuit 
Raffeix,  made  at  about  the  same  time.  It  is  chiefly  interesting 
as  marking  out  the  course  of  Du  Lhut  on  his  journeys  from  the 
head  of  Lake  Superior  to  the  Mississippi,  and  as  confirming  a 
part  of  the  narrative  of  Hennepin,  who,  Raffeix  says  in  a  note, 
was  rescued  by  Du  Lhut.  It  also  marks  out  the  journeys  of  La 
Salle  in  1679, '80. 

We  now  come  to  the  great  map  of  Franquelin,  the  most 
remarkable  of  all  the  early  maps  of  the  interior  of  North  Amer- 
ica, tli  >ugh  hitherto  completely  ignored  by  both  American  and 
Canadian  writers.  It  is  entitled  "  Carte  de  la  Louisiane  ou  des 
Voyages  da  Sr'  de  la  Salle  et  des  pays  qxCil  a  decouverts  depuis 
la  Nouvelle  France  jusqiCau  Golfe  Mexique  les  annees  167'J.  80, 
81  et  82.  par  Jean  Baptiste  Louis  Franquelin.  Van  1684. 
Paris.  Franquelin  was  a  young  engineer,  who  held  the  post 
of  hydrographer  to  the  king,  at  Quebec,  in  which  Joliet  suc- 
ceeded him.  Several  of  his  maps  are  preserved,  including  one 
made  in  1681,  in  which  he  lays  down  the  course  of  the  Missis- 


APPENDIX.  411 

sippi,  —  the  lower  part  from  conjecture,  —  making  it  discharge 
itself  into  Mobile  Bay.  It  appears  from  a  letter  of  the  Governor, 
La  Barre,  that  Franquelin  was  at  Quebec  in  1G83,  engaged  on 
a  map  which  was  probably  that  of  which  the  title  is  given  above, 
though,  had  La  Barre  known  that  it  was  to  be  called  a  map  of 
the  journeys  of  his  victim  La  Salle,  he  would  have  been  more 
sparing  of  his  praises.  "He"  (Franquelin),  writes  the  Gov- 
ernor, "  is  as  skilful  as  any  in  France,  but  extremely  poor  and 
in  need  of  a  little  aid  from  his  Majesty  as  an  Engineer :  he  is  at 
work  on  a  very  correct  map  of  the  country  which  I  shall  send  you 
next  year'in  his  name  ;  meanwhile,  I  shall  support  him  with  some 
little  assistance." —  Colonial  Documents  of  New  York,  ix.  205. 

The  map  is  very  elaborately  executed,  and  is  six  feet  long 
and  four  and  a  half  wide.  It  exhibits  the  political  divisions  of 
the  continent,  as  the  French  then  understood  them  ;  that  is  to 
say,  all  the  regions  drained  by  streams  flowing  into  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  the  Mississippi  are  claimed  as  belonging  to  France, 
and  this  vast  domain  is  separated  into  two  grand  divisions,  La 
Nouvelle  France  and  La  Louisiane.  The  boundary  line  of  the 
former,  New  France,  is  drawn  from  the  Penobscot  to  the  south- 
ern extremity  of  Lake  Champlain,  and  thence  to  the  Mohawk, 
which  it  crosses  a  little  above  Schenectady,  in  order  to  make 
French  subjects  of  the  Mohawk  Indians.  Thence  it  passes  by 
the  sources  of  the  Susquehanna  and  the  Alleghany,  along  the 
southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  across  Southern  Michigan,  and  by 
the  head  of  Lake  Michigan,  whence  it  sweeps  north-westward  to 
the  sources  of  the  Mississippi.  Louisiana  includes  the  entire 
valley  of  the  Mississippi  and  the  Ohio,  besides  the  whole  of 
Texas.  The  Spanish  province  of  Florida  comprises  the  penin- 
sula and  the  country  east  of  the  Bay  of  Mobile,  drained  by 
streams  flowing  into  the  Gulf;  while  Carolina,  Virginia,  and 
the  other  English  provinces,  form  a  narrow  strip  between  the 
Alleghanies  and  the  Atlantic. 

The  Mississippi  is  called  "  Missisipi,  ou  Riviere  Colbert ; " 
the  Missouri,  "  Grande  Riviere  des  Emissourittes,  ou  Missou- 
rits  ; "  the  Illinois,  "  Riviere  des  Ilinois,  ou  Macopins  ;  "  the  Ohio, 
which  La  Salle  had  before  called  by  its  present  name,  "  Fleuve 


412  APPENDIX. 

St.  Louis,  ou  Chucagoa,  ou  Casquinarapogamou ;  "  one  of  its 
principal  branches  is  "  Ohio,  ou  Olighin "  (Alleghany)  ;  the 
Arkansas,  "  Riviere  des  Acansea  ;  "  the  Red  River,  "  Riviere 
Seignelay,"  a  name  which  had  once  been  given  to  the  Illinois. 
Many  smaller  streams  are  designated  by  names  which  have 
been  entirely  forgotten. 

The  nomenclature  differs  materially  from  that  of  Coronelli's 
map,  published  four  years  later.  Here  the  whole  of  the  French 
territory  is  laid  down  as  "  Canada,  ou  La  Nouvelle  France,"  of 
which  "  La  Louisiane "  forms  an  integral  part.  The  map  of 
Homannus,  like  that  of  Franquelin,  makes  two  distinct  provinces, 
of  which  one  is  styled  "  Canada  "  and  the  other  "  La  Louisiane," 
the  latter  including  Michigan  and  the  greater  part  of  New 
York.  Franquelin  gives  the  shape  of  Hudson's  Bay,  and  of  all 
the  Great  Lakes,  with  remarkable  accuracy.  He  makes  the  Mis- 
sissippi bend  much  too  far  to  the  West.  The  peculiar  sinuosities 
of  its  course  are  indicated  ;  and  some  of  its  bends,  as,  for  exam- 
ple, that  at  New  Orleans,  are  easily  recognized.  Its  mouths  are 
represented  with  great  minuteness  ;  and  it  may  be  inferred  from 
the  map  that,  since  La  Salle's  time,  they  have  advanced  consid- 
erably into  the  sea. 

Perhaps  the  most  interesting  feature  in  Franquelin's  map  is 
his  sketch  of  La  Salle's  evanescent  colony  on  the  Illinois,  en- 
graved for  this  volume.  He  reproduced  the  map  in  1688,  for 
presentation  to  the  king,  with  the  title  Carte  de  VAmerique 
Septentrionale,  depuis  le  25  jusq'aic  65  degre  de  latitude  et  environ 
140  et  235  degres  de  longitude,  etc.  In  this  map  Franquelin 
corrects  various  errors  in  that  which  preceded.  One  of  these 
corrections  consists  in  the  removal  of  a  branch  of  the  River 
Illinois  which  he  had  marked  on  his  first  map,  —  as  will  be  seen 
by  referring  to  the  portion  of  it  in  this  book,  —  but  which  does 
not  in  fact  exist.  On  this  second  map  La  Salle's  colony  appears 
in  much  diminished  proportions,  his  Indian  settlements  having 
in  good  measure  dispersed.  ' 

The  remarkable  manuscript  map  of  the  Upper  Mississippi, 
by  Le  Sueur,  belongs  to  a  period  subsequent  to  the  close  of  this 
narrative. 


APPENDIX.  413 

II. 

The  Eldorado  of  Mathieu  Sagean. 

Father  Hennepin  had  among  his  contemporaries  two  rivals 
in  the  fabrication  of  new  discoveries.  The  first  was  the  noted 
La  Hontan,  whose  book,  like  his  own,  had  a  wide  circulation 
and  proved  a  great  success.  La  Hontan  had  seen  much,  and 
portions  of  his  story  have  a  substantial  value  ;  but  his  account  of 
his  pretended  voyage  up  the  "  Long  River  "  is  a  sheer  fabrication. 
His  "  Long  River "  corresponds  in  position  with  the  St.  Peter, 
but  it  corresponds  in  nothing  else ;  and  the  populous  nations 
whom  he  found  on  it,  the  Eokoros,  the  Esanapes,  and  the  Gnac- 
sitares,  no  less  than  their  neighbors  the  Mozeemlek  and  the 
Tahuglauk,  are  as  real  as  the  nations  visited  by  Captain  Gul- 
liver. But  La  Hontan  did  not,  like  Hennepin,  add  slander  and 
plagiarism  to  mendacity,  or  seek  to  appropriate  to  himself  the 
credit  of  genuine  discoveries  made  by  others. 

Mathieu  Sagean  is  a  personage  less  known  than  Hennepin  or 
La  Hontan  ;  for,  though  he  surpassed  them  both  in  fertility  of 
invention,  he  was  illiterate,  and  never  made  a  book.  In  1701, 
being  then  a  soldier  in  a  company  of  marines  at  Brest,  he  re- 
vealed a  secret  which  he  declared  that  he  had  locked  within  his 
breast  for  twenty  years,  having  been  unwilling  to  impart  it  to 
the  Dutch  and  English,  in  whose  service  he  had  been  during  the 
whole  period.  His  story  was  written  down  from  his  dictation, 
and  sent  to  the  minister  Ponchartrain.  It  is  preserved  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Imperiale,  and  in  18G3  it  was  printed  by  Mr.  Shea. 
Sagean  underwent  an  examination,  which  resulted  in  his  being 
sent  to  Biloxi,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  with  instruc- 
tions from  the  minister  that  he  should  be  supplied  with  the 
means  of  conducting  a  party  of  Canadians  to  the  wonderful 
country  which  he  had  discovered ;  but,  on  his  arrival,  the  officers 
in  command,  becoming  satisfied  that  he  was  an  impostor,  suffered 
the  order  to  remain  unexecuted.     His  story  was  as  follows :  — 

35* 


414  APPENDIX . 

He  was  born  at  La  Chine  in  Canada,  and  engaged  in  the  ser- 
vice  of  La  Salle  about  twenty  years  before  the  revelation  of  his 
secret ;  that  is,  in  1681.  Hence,  he  would  have  been  at  the  ut- 
most, only  fourteen  years  old,  as  La  Chine  did  not  exist  before 
1667.  He  was  with  La  Salle  at  the  building  of  Fort  St.  Louis 
of  the  Illinois,  and  was  left  here  as  one  of  a  hundred  men  under 
command  of  Tonty.  Tonty,  it  is  to  be  observed,  had  but  a  small 
fraction  of  this  number;  and  Sagean  describes  the  fort  in  a  man- 
ner which  shows  that  he  never  saw  it.  Being  desirous  of  mak- 
ing some  new  discovery,  he  obtained  leave  from  Tonty,  and  set 
out  with  eleven  other  Frenchmen  and  two  Mohegan  Indians. 
They  ascended  the  Mississippi  a  hundred  and  fifty  leagues,  car- 
ried their  canoes  by  a  cataract,  went  forty  leagues  farther,  and 
stopped  a  month  to  hunt.  While  thus  employed,  they  found  an- 
other river,  fourteen  leagues  distant,  flowing  south-south-west. 
They  carried  their  canoes  thither,  meeting  on  the  way  many 
lions,  leopards,  and  tigers,  which  did  them  no  harm  ;  then  they 
embarked,  paddled  a  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  farther,  and 
found  themselves  in  the  midst  of  the  great  nation  of  the  Acani- 
bas,  dwelling  in  many  fortified  towns,  and  governed  by  King 
Hagaren,  who  claimed  descent  from  Montezuma.  The  king, 
like  his  subjects,  was  clothed  with  the  skins  of  men.  Neverthe- 
less, he  and  they  were  civilized  and  polished  in  their  manners. 
They  worshipped  certain  frightful  idols  of  gold  in  the  royal  pal- 
ace. One  of  them  represented  the  ancestor  of  their  monarch 
armed  with  lance,  bow,  and  quiver,  and  in  the  act  of  mounting 
his  horse ;  while  in  his  mouth  he  held  a  jewel  as  large  as  a 
goose's  egg,  which  shone  like  fire,  and  which,  in  the  opinion  of 
Sagean,  was  a  carbuncle.  Another  of  these  images  was  that 
of  a  woman  mounted  on  a  golden  unicorn,  with  a  horn  more 
than  a  fathom  long.  After  passing,  pursues  the  story,  between 
these  idols,  which  stand  on  platforms  of  gold,  each  thirty  feet 
square,  one  enters  a  magnificent  vestibule,  conducting  to  the 
apartment  of  the  king.  At  the  four  corners  of  this  vestibule 
are  stationed  bands  of  music,  which,  to  the  taste  of  Sagean,  was 
of  very  poor  quality.  The  palace  is  of  vast  extent,  and  the 
private  apartment  of  the  king    is  twenty-eight  or  thirty  feet 


APPENDIX.  415 

square ;  the  walls,  to  the  height  of  eighteen  feet,  being  of  bricks 
of  solid  gold,  and  the  pavement  of  the  same.  Here  the  king 
dwells  alone,  served  only  by  his  wives,  of  whom  he  takes  a  new 
one  every  day.  The  Frenchmen  alone  had  the  privilege  of 
entering,  and  were  graciously  received. 

These  people  carry  on  a  great  trade  in  gold  with  a  nation, 
believed  by  Sagean  to  be  the  Japanese,  as  the  journey  to  them 
lasts  six  months.  He  saw  the  departure  of  one  of  the  caravans, 
which  consisted  ot  more  than  three  thousand  oxen,  laden  with 
gold,  and  an  equal  number  of  horsemen,  armed  with  lances, 
bows,  and  daggers.  They  receive  iron  and  steel  in  exchange 
for  their  gold.  The  king  has  an  army  of  a  hundred  thousand 
men,  of  whom  three-fourths  are  cavalry.  They  have  golden 
trumpets,  with  which  they  make  very  indifferent  music;  and 
also  golden  drums,  which,  as  well  as  the  drummer,  are  carried 
on  the  backs  of  oxen.  The  troops  are  practised  once  a  week  in 
shooting  at  a  target  with  arrows  ;  and  the  king  rewards  the 
victor  with  one  of  his  wives,  or  with  some  honorable  employ- 
ment. 

These  people  are  of  a  dark  complexion  and  hideous  to  look 
upon,  because  their  faces  are  made  long  and  narrow  by  pressing 
their  heads  between  two  boards  in  infancy.  The  women,  how- 
ever, are  as  fair  as  in  Europe ;  though,  in  common  with  the  men, 
their  ears  are  enormously  large.  All  persons  of  distinction 
among  the  Acanibas,  wear  their  finger-nails  very  long.  They 
are  polygamists,  and  each  man  takes  as  many  wives  as  he  wants. 
They  are  of  a  joyous  disposition,  moderate  drinkers,  but  great 
smokers.  They  entertained  Sagean  and  his  followers  during 
five  months  with  the  fat  of  the  land  ;  and  any  woman  who  re- 
fused a  Frenchman  was  ordered  to  be  killed.  Six  girls  were 
put  to  death  with  daggers  for  this  breach  of  hospitality.  The 
king,  being  anxious  to  retain  his  visitors  in  his  service,  offered 
Sagean  one  of  his  daughters,  aged  fourteen  years,  in  marriage  ; 
and,  when  he  saw  him  resolved  to  depart,  promised  to  keep  her 
for  him  till  he  should  return. 

The  climate  is  delightful,  and  summer  reigns  throughout  the 
year.     The   plains  are  full  of  birds  and   animals  of  all  kinds, 


416  APPENDIX. 

among  which  are  many  parrots  and  monkeys,  besides  the  wild 
cattle,  with  humps  like  camels,  which  these  people  use  as  beasts 
of  burden. 

King  Hagaren  would  not  let  the  Frenchmen  go  till  they  had 
sworn  by  the  sky,  which  is  the  customary  oath  of  the  Acanibas, 
that  they  would  return  in  thirty -six  moons,  and  bring  him  a  sup- 
ply of  beads  and  other  trinkets  from  Canada.  As  gold  was  to 
be  had  for  the  asking,  each  of  the  eleven  Frenchmen  took  away 
with  him  sixty  small  bars,  weighing  about  four  pounds  each. 
The  king  ordered  two  hundred  horsemen  to  escort  them,  and 
carry  the  gold  to  their  canoes  ;  which  they  did,  and  then  bade 
them  farewell  with  terrific  howlings,  meant,  doubtless,  to  do 
them  honor. 

After  many  adventures,  wherein  nearly  all  his  companions 
came  to  a  bloody  end,  Sagean,  and  the  few  others  who  survived, 
had  the  ill  luck  to  be  captured  by  English  pirates,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  He  spent  many  years  among  them  in  the 
East  and  West  Indies,  but  would  not  reveal  the  secret  of  his 
Eldorado  to  these  heretical  foreigners. 

Such  was  the  story,  which  so  far  imposed  on  the  credulity  of 
the  Minister  Ponchartrain  as  to  persuade  him  that  the  matter 
was  worth  serious  examination.  Accordingly,  Sagean  was  sent 
to  Louisiana,  then  in  its  earliest  infancy  as  a  French  colony.  Here 
he  met  various  persons  who  had  known  him  in  Canada,  who  de- 
nied that  he  had  ever  been  on  the  Mississippi,  and  contradicted 
his  account  of  his  parentage.  Nevertheless,  he  held  fast  to  his 
story,  and  declared  that  the  gold  mines  of  the  Acanibas  could 
be  reached  without  difficulty  by  the  River  Missouri.  But 
Sauvolle  and  Bienville,  chiefs  of  the  colony,  were  obstinate  in 
their  unbelief;  and  Sagean  and  his  King  Hagaren  lapsed  alike 
into  oblivion. 


INDEX.1 


THE   ROMAN    NUMERALS    REFER   TO   THE  INTRODUCTION. 


Abenaki  Indians  from  New  England 
attach  themselves  to  La  Salle,  265, 
271,  290,  305. 

Accau,  Michel,  172 ;  accompanies 
Hennepin  in  his  travels,  223;  the 
real  leader  of  the  party,  230;  cap- 
tured by  the  Sioux,  232. 

"Aimable,"  The,  La  Salle's  storeship, 
wrecked,  326,  327. 

Alligators  in  the  Mississippi,  276;  their 
flesh  eaten,  285. 

Allouez,  Claude,  Jesuit  missionary  at 
Green  Bay,  32 ;  vi-its  the  Miamis 
and  Foxes,  33,  34;  at  Saut  Ste.  Ma- 
rie addresses  the  Indians  in  a  pom- 
pous speech,  41-44;  intrigues  with 
the  Illinois  Indians  against  La  Salle, 
161  note  ;  at  St.  Louis  of  the  Illinois, 
389. 

Andre,  Louis,  Jesuit  missionary  at 
Manatoulin  Island,  31;  his  mean 
fare,  ib. 

Aquipaguetin,  a  Sioux  chief,  235,  236, 
241,  243,  260,  251. 

Archeveque,  1'.     See  V Archeveque. 

Arkansas  nation  of  Indians,  276  note. 

Arkansas  river,  discovery  of,  by  Joliet, 
62;  Joutel  and  his  party  arrive  on 
its  banks  after  the  murder  of  La 
Salle,  384. 

Assassination  of  La  Salle,  363,  et  seq. ; 
evidence  concerning  it,  366  note; 
misstatements  of  Douay  and  others, 
367. 


B. 

Barbier,  his  marriage,  345 ;  left  in  com- 
mand in  Texas,  353;  his  fate,  400. 

Barthelemy,  a  follower  of  La  Salle,  his 
misrepresentations,  367:  accompa- 
nies Joutel  on  his  wav  homeward, 
382;  is  left  on  the  Arkansas,  387 
note 

Bay  of  St.  Louis,  in  Texas,  324. 

Baye  des  Puans.    See  Green  Bay. 

Beaujeu,  commander  of  the  vessels  in 
La  Salle's  last  expedition,  310  ;  com- 
plains of  La  Salle,  311,  318-320;  his 
misconduct,  316,  323,  329;  abandons 
the  expedition  and  returns  to  France, 
330;  proofs  of  his  treachery,  330  note ; 
he  acted  under  Jesuit  influence,  390 
note. 

Bellefontaine,  commander  on  the  Illi- 
nois, as  lieutenant  of  Tontv,  389, 
390. 

Boisrondet,  202,  207,  210,  216,  219:  on 
the  Illinois,  388. 

Bolton,  Captain,  his  supposed  discov- 
ery of  the  Mississippi,  in  1670,  viii. 

Bourdon,  Madame,  at  Quebec,  105. 

Brazos  river  in  Texas,  359. 

Bruyas,  a  Jesuit,  missionary,  109,  123. 

Buffalo  hunt,  190 ;  remarkable  scene,  ib. 

Buffalo  Rock,  155,  not  the  "  Rock  of 
St.  Louis,"  288  note. 

Buisset,  Luc,  a  Recollet  friar,  115,  120, 
123,  258. 

Burning  of  prisoners  by  Indians,  13, 
129,  190,  218. 


1  By  Rev.  J.  A  Vinton. 


-A18 


INDEX. 


c. 

Camanches  Indians  in  Texas,  349. 
Cannibalism  among  the  Indians,  218 

note,  304,  381. 
Cannon  found  at  Ottawa,  111.,  a  relic 

of  the  French  occupation,  291  note. 
Cavelier,  Rene"  Robert.  See  La  Salle. 
Cavelier,  Jean,  brother  of  La  Salle,  a 
priest,  3 ;  becomes  prejudiced  against 
his  brother,  107;  and  gives  him  an- 
noyance, 108;  joins  La  Salle's  last 
expedition,  310,  337,  340,  343,  347, 
350,  352,  358;  his  statements  unre- 
liable, 356  «o<e;  among  the  Indians, 
383,  386;  conceals  the  death  of  La 
Salle,  388,  391,  393;  his  meanness, 
391;  his  report  to  the  minister  Seig- 
nelay,  393  note ;  his  memorial  to  the 
king,  ib. ;  his  death,  ib. 
Cavelier,  Madeleine,  niece  of  La  Salle, 
19,  24. 

Cavelier, ,  a  young  nephew  of  La 

Salle,   accompanies   him,   314,  330, 
355;  returns  to  France  with  Joutel, 
382  et  stq. ;  his  subsequent  historv, 
393  note. 
Cenis  Indians  in  Texas,  visit  of  La 
Salle  to  them,  348-350;  visit  of  Jou- 
tel, 372;    their  lodges,  how  made, 
373. 
Cltassagoac,  an  Illinois  chief,  177. 
Cliedeville,  a  priest,  accompanies  La 
Salle,   344;    is   left   in   the   fort    in 
Texas,  353. 
China,  a  way  to  it  sought  across  the 
continent  of  North  America,  vii.  8,9. 
Clark,  James,  of  Utica,  111.,  supplies 
information  concerning  Indian  rel- 
ics, 155  note,  156  note. 
Colbert,  prime  minister  of  Louis  XIV., 
24,  37,  113;  his  death,  303;  the  river 
Mississippi,  so  called,  225,  304,  305, 
406,  409. 
Colorado  river,  in  Texas,  347,  350. 
Comet,  great,  of  1680,  seen  by  La  Salle 

"ii  the  Illinois,  197. 
Conti,  Prince   of   (Louis  Armand  de 
Bourbon),  101 ;  patronizes  La  Salle, 
117. 
Copper,  found  by  the  Jesuits  on  Lake 

Superior,  28.  ' 
Courceiles,  governor  of  Canada,  chas- 
tises the  Iroquois,  5 ;  favors  the  plans 
of  La  Salle,  9;  recalled  home,  46. 
"Coureurs  de  bois,'1'  a  lawless  bodv  of 
men,  76,  141,  162,  165,  169,  252,"255, 
294;    their    important   service,   391 
note ;  declaration  of  the  king  against 
them,  397  note. 
Couture,  of  Rouen,   387   note ;   meets 


Joutel  on  the  Arkansas,  384;  his 
statements  respecting  the  death  of 
La  Salle.  367;  informs  Tontv  of  La 
Salle's  death,  392  vote,  394. 

Creveeceur,  fort,  built  by  La  Salle  on 
the  Illinois,  168;  destroyed  by  his 
men  in  his  absence.  183,  195. 

Culture,  genuine,  well  endures  bard- 
ship,  183  note. 


D. 


Dablon,  Claude,  Jesuit  missionary  at 
St.  Marie  du  Saut,  18,  28,  32,  33,  41. 

Dacotahs.     See  Sioux. 

Dautray  (Jean  Bourdon),  174,  184  note, 
194;  descends  the  Mississippi  with 
La  Salle,  281. 

De  Baucis,  Chevalier,  takes  possession 
of  La  Salle's  fort  of  St.  Louis,  Illi- 
nois, 301. 

De  Marie,  Sieur,  accompanies  La  Salle, 
356,  360;  accompanies  Joutel  home- 
ward, 382;  drowned  on  the  way, 
384. 

De  Soto's  discovery  of  the  Mississippi 
forgotten,  vii. 

Detroit,  strait  of,  first  visited  by  white 
men,  17;  visited  by  La  Salle,  139, 
181. 

Discovery  of  the  Ohio  by  La  Salle,  20- 
23;  of  the  .Mississippi,  by  Joliet.  55; 
of  the  Missouri,  60;  of  the  Arkansas, 
62;  of  the  Illinois  country  by  Joliet 
and  Marquette,  72  note ;  of  the  out- 
let of  the  Mississippi,  by  La  Salle, 
281. 

Dollier  de  Casson,  a  missionary  in  Can- 
ada, 10;  his  character,  ib. ;  connec- 
tion with  La  Salle,  11;  leaves  him 
on  the  route,  16;  visits  Lake  Huron, 
17;  returns  to  Montreal,  18. 
Dongan,  Thomas,  English  governor  of 
New    York,    excites    the     Iroquois 
against  the  Western  tribes,  298. 
Bonnes,  assistants  in  the  missions,  36. 
Douay,  Anastase,  a  Recollet  friar,  310, 
33o",  343,  348,  349;  sets  out  with  La 
Salle  for  Canada,  355;  witnesses  the 
assassination  of  La  Salle,  363;   his 
misstatements  relating  thereto,  367 ; 
accompanies   Joutel  on  his  wav  to 
( lanada,  382. 
Druilletes,  Gabriel,  Jesuit  missionarv, 

41,  50. 
Duchesneau,  Intendant  of  Canada,  75 
note;  opposes  Frontenac,  96 ;  an  ad- 
versary to  La  Salle,  143  note,  182, 
Du  Gay  (Antoine  Auguel),  172  ;  a  com- 
panion of  Hennepin,  223,  230;  a 
captive  among  the  Sioux,  231  etseq. 


INDEX. 


419 


Duhaut,  one  of  La  Salle's  followers, 
a  consummate  villain,  339,  340,  343 ; 
contrive?  mischief,  345 ;  sets  out  with 
La  Salle  for  Canada,  355,  359,  360; 
is  concerned  in*  the  murder  of  Mo- 
ranget,  361;  murders  La  Salle,  363; 
takes  command  of  the  party,  369; 
seizes  the  goods  of  La  Salle,  370;  is 
slain  by  Hiens,  379. 

Du  Lhut,  Daniel  Greysolon,  252;  his 
energetic  character,  253 ;  his  remark- 
able career,  254  note ;  meets  Henne- 
pin on  the  Upper  Mississippi,  255; 
comes  to  the  aid  of  Denonville,  391 
note. 


E. 


El  Dorado  west  of  the  Mississippi, 
pretended  discovery  of  one,  413-416. 

Engages,  hired  assistants  in  the  mis- 
sions, 36:  how  employed,  ib. 

Erie,  Lake,  visited  by  Dollier,  16. 

Expedition,  first,  of  La  Salle,  11;  sec- 
ond, 74;  third  and  last,  315;  of 
Alonzo  de  Leon  against  the  French 
in  Texas,  398. 


Faillon,  the  Abbe,  his  investigations,  v. 
7,  19,  38,  49. 

Fe'nelon,  the  Abbe,  a  missionary  in 
Canada,  10;  preaches  in  opposition 
to  Governor  Frontenac,  94;  called 
to  account  for  it,  95. 

Fox  Indians,  or  Outagamies,  32,  34, 
147 ;  La  Salle  in  danger  from  them, 
148;  mentioned,  264. 

Fox  River,  discovered  by  Nicollet,  viii. 

France  atl'ects  to  take  possession  of  the 
entire  West,  41;  copy  of  the  docu- 
ment, 41,  42. 

Franquelin,  his  map  of  the  Great 
Lukes,  290,  410,  et  seq. 

French  pretensions  in  North  America, 
41,283,  281,  411,  412. 

Frontenac,  fount  (Louis  de  Buade), 
Governor  of  Canada;  his  character, 
46,  47,  74  ;  aims  to  secure  a  monopoly 
of  the  fur-trade,  78;  lor  this  purpose 
builds  a  fort  at  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Ontario.  80-85;  his  proceedings  at 
Montreal,  61;  overcomes  great  diffi- 
culties, 82;  his  s| eh  to  the  In- 
dian-, 84;  his  artful  management, 
86;  his  influence  o\  it  the  Indians, 
87;  the  fort  named  Fort  Frontenac, 
89;  quarrels  with  the  governor  of 
Montreal;  his  ri\    I  in  the  fur-trade, 


92;  discontents  of  the  people  in  eon 
sequence,  93;  calls  the  Abb6  Fene- 
lon  to  account  for  seditious  lan- 
guage, 95;  dislikes  the  Jesuits,  99; 
befriends  La  Salle,  269;  recalled, 
292. 

Frontenac,  fort,  built,  85;  for  what 
purpose  built,  78;  passes  into  the 
possession  of  La  Salle,  89;  who 
strengthens  and  enlarges  it,  114; 
cost  of  it  to  La  Salle,  115  noti . 

Fur-trade  in  Canada,  how  conducted, 
36,76;  gross  abuses,  77 ;  the  Jesuits 
engaged  in  it,  36,  104. 


G. 


Galinde,  a  priest  of  St.  Sulpice,  sets 
out  with  La  Salle,  11;  leaves  him, 
16;  his  zeal  against  idolatry,  17; 
visits  Lake  Huron,  17;  returns  to 
Montreal,  18;  his  map  of  the  Upper 
Lakes,  ib.;  his  journal  of  the  expe- 
dition, 19;  his  map  of  the  Great 
Lakes  described,  405. 

Green  Bav,  Jesuit  mission  there,  32, 
52. 

"  Griffin,"  The,  first  vessel  built  on 
the  Upper  Lakes,  132-138;  the  lo- 
cality ascertained,  133  note ;  diffi- 
culties of  the  undertaking,  134;  the 
launch,  136;  why  the  name,  ib. ;  her 
voyage  on  Lake  Erie,  139;  on  Lake 
Huron,  140;  arrives  at  Mackinaw, 
141 ;  voyage  on  Lake  Michigan, 
143;  sent  back  to  Niagara,  ib. ;  lost 
on  the  passage,  168,  179. 

Grollet,  a  French  savage  in  Texas, 
376,  et  seq. ;  falls  into  the  hands  of 
the  Spaniards,  399. 

H. 

Hennepin,  Louis,  a  Recollet  friar,  115  ; 
joins  La  Salle,  118;  sets  out  for 
Niagara.  119;  his  character  and 
early  history,  121;  arrives  in  Can- 
ada, .122;  visits  the  settlements  of 
the  Iroquois  in  mid-winter  on  snow- 
shoes,  123;  his  mendacity,  124;  his 
account  of  the  Falls  of  Niagara,  126 
note;  visits  the  Seneca  Indians,  128; 
his  vanity,  130,  135  note;  embarks 
in  the  "Griffin  "  on  Lake  Krie,  140; 
his  voyage  on  Lakes  Huron  and 
Michigan,  141-144;  accompanies  La 
Salle  into  the  Illinois  country,  157, 
167;  is  sent  to  explore  the  Illinois 
river  to  its  mouth,  171;  and  the 
Upper  .Mississippi,  22:;;  ial-e  state- 


420 


INDEX. 


ments  of  his  book  224  et  seq. ;  did 
not  explore  the  Lower  Mississippi, 
226;  a  plagiary,  227,  228  note,  413; 
captured  by  the  Sioux,  231 ;  in  peril 
of  his  life,  232,  236,  239 ;  suspected 
of  sorcery,  233 ;  visits  Lake  Pepin, 
237;  adopted  into  the  tribe,  241;  re- 
spected by  them,  242;  attempts  a 
Sioux  vocabulaiy,  243 ;  joins  a  hunt- 
ing party,  244 ;  in  danger  of  starva- 
tion, 245;  visits  and  names  the  Falls 
of  St.  Anthony,  246;  descends  the 
Mississippi,  247 ;  the  scenery  de- 
scribed, 249;  again  in  a  hunting- 
party,  251;  meets  with  Du  Lhut  and 
his  party,  252 ;  returns  to  civiliza- 
tion, 258;  goes  to  Europe,  259;  has 
had  a  multitude  of  readers,  ib.  note. 

Hiens,  or  "English  Jem,"  formerly  a 
buccaneer,  a  follower  of  La  Salle, 
347;  sets  out  with  him  for  Canada, 
356,  360;  one  of  the  murderers  of 
Moranget,  361;  and  of  La  Salle, 
363;  kills  Duhaut,  379;  seizes  La 
Salle's  property,  382;  assists  the 
Cenis  Indians  in  war,  381;  killed 
by  an  accomplice,  402. 

"  Histoire  de  Monsieur  de  la  Salle," 
its  contents,  20;  its  errors,  21,  23. 
See  "  Memoirs  sur  M.  de  La  Salle." 

Huron,  Lake,  visited  by  missionaries, 
17,  27;  voyage  of  La  Salle  upon  it, 
140. 

Huron  tribe  of  Indians,  fugitives  at 
La  Pointe,  30;  driven  away  by  the 
Sioux,  31;  at  Mackinaw,  142. 


I. 


Idol,  an  Indian,  found  at  Detroit,  16 ; 
another,  33;  two  others,  59. 

Illinois  country  discovered  by  La 
Salle,  21:  traversed  by  Marquette 
and  Joliet,  65,  67-69;  irruption  of 
the  Iroquois,  191  et  seq. 

Illinois  nation  of  Indians,  30,  57;  an 
aggregation  of  kindred  tribes,  206 
note  ;  adventures  of  La  Salle  among 
them,  158  tt  seq.;  their  great  town, 
156;  the  town  destroyed  by  the 
Iroquois,  191 ;  evil  practices  of,  206 
note;  battle  with  the  Iroquois,  210; 
retire  before  them,  213;  retreat  be- 
yond the  Mississippi,  218;  site  of  the 
great  town  determined,  221;  return 
of  the  Illinois,  222. 

Illinois  River,  discovered  by  La  Salle, 
20,  25;  passed  by  Joliet  and  Mar- 
quette, 58;  called  "the  Divine," 
and  whv,  154  note. 

Indian   barbarity,   13,    129,   192,    196, 


218:  Indian  life  described,  204  et 
seq. ;  Indian  right,  211 ;  cannibalism, 
218.  381;  torture  an  alligator,  358; 
Indian  lodges,  how  made,  373;  tat- 
too their  bodies,  374  note  ;  singular 
Indian  hospitality,  372,  3b3,  386. 
Iroquois,  defeated  by  Courcelles,  5, 10; 
their  hostility  to  the  Jesuits,  17; 
their  invasion  of  the  Illinois,  191 ; 
their  measureless  ferocity,  192,  217; 
attack  the  Illinois,  210;  a  terror  to 
other  tribes,  262,  263,  264,  267,  287, 
289  291,  294,  295,  300. 


Jesuits,  their  influence  in  Canada,  10, 
103;  jealous  of  other  influence,  13, 
18,  20  note,  406;  a  partial  change  in 
their  spirit,  27 ;  become  explorers, 
searchers  for  copper,  2s,  29;  and 
fur-traders^  36;  their  missions  on 
the  Upper  Lakes,  29,  30;  their  vast 
schemes  for  controlling  the  Indians 
in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  97 ;  their 
esprit  de  corps,  98 ;  they  dread  the 
influence  of  fur-traders,  and  espe- 
cially of  La  Salle,  99;  the  bishop 
favors  them,  103;  their  trade  in  furs 
and  brandv,  104 ;  their  endeavors  to  ( 
ruin  La  Salle,  107-110,  112,  137,  | 
142,  161;  his  nrsfortunes  due  to 
their  intrigues,  3t>9  note  ;  their  maps 
of  the  Great  Lakes.  406-408. 

Joliet,  Louis,  his  birth  and  education, 
48;  his  early  history  and  character, 
49 ;  accompanies  St.  Lusson  to  Lake 
Superior,  40,  49;  meets  with  La 
Salle  on  his  wav,  14,  49;  his  map 
of  the  Great  Lakes,  14,  22,  23  note, 
408;  sent  by  Frontenac  to  discover 
the  Mississippi,  48 ;  reaches  Green 
Bay,  52;  descends  the  Wisconsin, 
54;  the  scenery  described  54,  55; 
discovers  the  Mississippi,  23, 
55;  descends  that  mighty  stream, 
and  how  far,  55-64;  passes  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri,  60 ;  and  the 
Arkansas,  62 ;  sets  out  on  his  return, 
64;  passes  up  the  Illinois  River,  65; 
returns  to  Quebec,  and  on  the  way 
loses  all  his  manuscripts,  66;  his 
marriage,  66  note ;  and  subsequent 
history,  ib. ;  his  map  described,  408. 

Joutel,  accompanies  La  Salle  on  his 
last  expedition,  313,  322,  326,  330, 
334 ;  is  left  in  command  of  the  fort, 
338,  340;  sets  out  with  La  Salle  for 
Canada,  355;  the  historian  of  the 
party,  356  note ;  as  such  reliable, 
357  note,  367  note ;  his  character  of 


INDEX. 


421 


La  Salle,  364;  visits  the  Cenis 
Indians,  372  et  seq.;  sets  out  for 
Canada.  382;  his  party,  ib. ;  reaches 
the  Arkansas,  384 ;  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, 387;  and  the  Illinois,  388; 
conceals  the  death  of  La  Salle,  ib. ; 
arrives  in  Canada,  392;  and  in 
France,  ib. 

K. 

Kankakee  River,  a  branch  of  the  Illi- 
nois, 153;  whence  the  name,  ib.  note; 
La  Salle  reaches  it,  154,  189. 

L. 

L'Archeveque,  a  servant  of  Duhaut, 
and  follower  of  La  Salle,  356,  360; 
assists  in  the  murder  of  Moranget, 
361;  and  of  La  Salle,  363;  assumes 
the  Indian  costume,  399;  falls  into 
the  hands  of  the  Spaniards,  400 ;  sent 
to  Spain,  401. 

La  Banc,  Le  Fevre  de,  succeeds  Fron- 
tenac  as  governor  of  Canada,  292; 
his  character,  ib.  ;  his  misdeeds,  293; 
unfriendly  to  La  Salle,  296;  depre- 
ciates his  achievements,  297 ;  seizes 
fort  Frontenac  and  other  property  of 
La  Salle,  299 ;  seizes  La  Salle's  fort 
of  St.  Louis,  301. 

La  Chesnaye,  a  merchant,  joins  in  a 
combination  against  La  Salle,  96, 
2 'J  9. 

La  Chine,  near  Montreal,  granted  to 
La  Salle,  5;  the  name,  why  given, 
19. 

La  Forest,  accompanies  La  Salle,  188, 
264;  in  command  at  Fort  Frontenac, 
300 ;  in  Paris,  309 ;  departs  for  Can- 
ada, ib. ;  in  the  fur  trade,  397  note. 

La  Hontan,  his  fabrications,  413. 

La  Motte,  Sieurde,  joins  La  Salle,  118; 
sails  for  Niagara,  120,  124;  his  peril- 
ous voyage,  125;  his  visit  to  the  Se- 
neca Indians,  128;  is  unsuccessful 
and  returns  to  Canada,  180. 

La  Pointe,  at  the  head  of  Lake  Supe- 
rior, a  tfesuit  mission  there,  30. 

La  Sai.lk,  K<  nr  Robert  Cavelier,  his 
birth,  parentage,  and  social  position, 
1;  his  education.  2;  in  early  life  con- 
nected with  the.  .Jesuits,  77i  ,•  liis  char- 
acter, 3,  5,  11,  15,  73,  166,  182,  260, 
269,336,351,  364;  arrives  in  Mon- 
treal, 4;  his  connection  with  the 
Seminary  of  Si.  Sulpice,  5;  has  a 
grantol  land  at  La  <  liine,  ib. ;  grants 
land  to  settlers  under  him,  7 ;  his 


m 


vast  designs,  8,  73;  hopes  to  reach 
China  by  means  of  the  Ohio  river, 
ib. ;  sets  out  on  his  first  expedi- 
tion, 11 ;  arrival  among  the  Senecas, 
12 ;  his  danger  there,  13 ;  meets  with 
Joliet,  14 ;  parts  with  him  and  the  two 
priests,  his  companions,  15 ;  goes  to 
Onondaga,  20;  descends  the  Illinois 
and  discovers  the  Ohio,  20-23 ;  did 
not  then  reach  the  Mississippi,  21- 
25 ;  his  researches  made  at  ins  own 
expense,  38,  294,  304;  his  second 
expedition,  74;  gains  the  confi- 
dence of  Frontenac,  the  Governor, 
75;  his  methods  of  raising  money 
for  the  enterprise,  ib. ;  for  this  pur- 
pose he  goes  to  France,  89 ;  is  enno- 
bled, 90;  returns  to  Canada,  90;  a 
partner  with  the  governor  in  the  fur- 
trade,  91 ;  espouses  his  cause  against 
his  opponents,  93,  94 ;  has  many  ene- 
mies, 96 ;  opposed  by  the  Jesuits,  and 
why,  97 ;  their  endeavors  to  ruin  him, 
107;  annoyed  by  his  brother,  108; 
an  attempt  to  poison  him,  110;  La 
Salle"s  account  of  the  affair,  111;  ex- 
onerates the  Jesuits,  ib. ;  gains  pos- 
session of  fort  Frontenac,  and  on 
what  conditions,  89;  strengthens  it 
by  new  erections,  114;  his  great 
schemes,  115;  again  visits  France, 
116 ;  obtains  a  royal  grant;  its  terms, 
ib. ;  returns  to  Canada  with  recruits, 
117 ;  cost  of  his  enterprises  to  his 
family,  117  note;  obtains  Tonty  as 
an  assistant,  117;  with  La  Motte  and 
Hennepin,  118;  loses  his  vessel  on 
Lake  Ontario,  129;  visits  the  Sene- 
cas, 130 ;  at  Niagara,  ib. ;  builds  the 
first  vessel  on  the  Upper  Lakes,  134, 
et  seq.  ;  discontent  of  his  men,  135; 
launch  of  the  vessel,  136;  his  prop- 
erty in  Lower  Canada  attached  for 
debt,  137 ;  embarks  in  the  "  Griffin  " 
on  Lake  Erie,  139;  dangerous  voy- 
age, 140;  voyage  on  Lakes  Huron, 
141;  and  Michigan,  143;  sends  back 
the  "Griffin,"  ib. ;  his  hardships, 
144;  in  danger  from  the  Fox  Indi- 
ans, 148;  reaches  the  River  St.  Jo- 
seph, 149;  builds  a  fort  there,  ib.; 
lost  in  the  woods,  152;  descends  the 
Illinois,  156 ;  finds  a  populous  Indian 
town,  ib. ;  reaches  Peoria  Lake,  158; 
dangers  among  the  Indians,  159  et 
seq. ;  his  speech  to  them,  163;  six  of 
his  men  desert,  164 ;  attempt  to  poi- 
son him,  165;  frightful  prevalence 
of  this  crime,  ib. ;  builds  tort  Creve- 
coeur,  167;  is  disconcerted  at  the  loss 
of  the  "Griffin,"  168;  and  other 
losses,    182;   builds  another  vessel, 


422 


INDEX. 


171;  sets  out  on  his  return  for  fort 
Frontenac,  173 ;  his  toilsome  voyage, 
175  <  t  seq. ;  danger  from  savages, 
179,  180;  reaches  Niagara,  and  hears 
bad  news,  182;  reaches  fort  Fronte- 
nac, ib. ;  his  unconquerable  spirit, 
ib. ;  arrives  in  Montreal,  and  procures 
needful  succors,  183 ;  treachery  and 
desertion  of  his  men,  184,  201;  his 
encounter  with  the  deserters,  185; 
his  return  to  the  Illinois,  189  et  seq. : 
anxious  for  the  fate  of  Tonty,  193; 
beholds  traces  ef  revolting  Indian 
ferocity,  192-196;  reaches  the 
Mississippi.  196;  sees  the  great 
comet  of  1680,  197;  spends  the  win- 
ter on  the  St.  Joseph,  260 ;  defeated 
at  all  points,  he  begins  anew,  261; 
obtains  allies  among  the  Indians, 
262;  attaches  them  to  his  interests, 
264;  becomes  snow-blind,  263;  meets 
with  refugee  Indians  from  New  Eng- 
land, 260 ;  a  body  of  them  accom- 
pany him,  271;  meets  the  Miamis  in 
council,  266;  his  consummate  ad- 
dress in  managing  Indians,  ib. ;  his 
speech,  267;  returns  to  Canada,  269; 
and  obtains  new  resources,  ib. ; 
reaches  the  Mississippi,  273;  passes 
the  Mis=ouri  -and  the  Ohio,  ib. ;  and 
the  Arkansas,  275;  visits  the  great 
town  of  the  Taensas,  276;  visits  the 
Natchez  Indians, 279;  reaches  the 
mouth  <»f  the  Mississippi,  and 
takes  possession  of  the  whole  of 
Louisiana  for  Louis  XIV.,  281 :  what 
was  included  in  the  transaction,  283, 
284;  La  Salle  sick  in  the  Chicka-aw 
country,  285;  disappointed  in  his 
plans,  286;  fortifies  "  Starved  Rock," 
288;  the  Indians  confide  in  him  as 
their  protector,  289;  their  numbers, 
291;  his  letters  to  the  new  governor 
of  Canada,  293  et  seq.;  states  the 
amount  of  his  force  at  St.  Louis.  296  ; 
the  governor  seeks  his  ruin,  296  el 
seq.;  La  Salle  sails  for  France,  301; 
finds  friends  at  court,  303 ;  his  propo- 
sals to  the  government,  304 ;  proposes 
to  attack  the  Mexican  provinces,  305 ; 
the  plan  impracticable,  307;  his 
troubles  from  Beaujeu,  311;  sails 
from  France  on  his  third  expedi- 
tion, 315;  general  character  of  his 
followers,  331;  arrives  at  St.  Do- 
mingo, 316;  his  illness  there,  317; 
the  sad  effects,  318;  passes  the  Mis- 
sissippi by  mistake,  and  lands  on  the 
coast  of  Texas.  324 ;  loses  his  store- 
ship,  the  "'  Aimable,"  326 ;  by  treach- 
ery, 327 ;  trouble  from  the  natives, 
328;  his  forlorn  condition,  330;  loses 


many  of  his  followers  by  death,  335; 
gloomy  prospects  of  the  colony,  336 ; 
constructs  a  fort  which  he  calls  St. 
Louis,  336;  his  tour  of  exploration, 
338;  loses  his  vessel,  the  ''Belle." 
341,  344;  his  attempt  to  reach  Can- 
ada, 343 ;  his  adventures  by  the  way, 
346  el  seq. ;  his  illness,  350  ;  returns 
to  the  fort,  346,  350;  his  persistent 
hope,  351;  his  sickness,  350,  352; 
again  sets  out  for  Canada,  353;  the 
party  described,  355;  difficulties  of 
the  way,  357;  murdered  by  sonic  of 
his  followers,  363;  his  character.  364 
et  seq- ;  his  marvellous  fortitude,  366 ; 
debts  incurred  by  him  for  his  explo- 
rations, 367 ;  his  death  avenge 
his  misfortunes  due  to  Jesuit  malig- 
nity, 389  note. 

Laval-Montmorency,  Francois  Xavier 
de.  bishop  of  Qu  bee,  favors  the  Je- 
suits, 103,  105. 

Le  Ber,  Jacques,  a  merchant  in  Mon- 
treal, 93;  unfriendly  to  La  Salle,  96, 
299. 

Le  Clercq,  Chretien,  his  book  used  by 
Hennepin  in  compiling  his  Nan- 
velle  Decmiverte,  227;  the  passages 
marked,  228  note. 

Le  Clercq,  Maxime,  a  Re'collet  friar, 
310,  353. 

Le  Gros.  bitten  by  a  rattlesnake,  331; 
dies,  336. 

Le  Movne,  a  merchant,  an  enemv  of 
La  Salle,  96,  299 

"  Le  Rocher,"  or  Rock  of  St.  Louis, 
fortified  by  La  Salle,  2s8  ;  now  known 
as  "Starved  Rock,"  ib.  note,  290 
note.     See  "  Starved  Ruck." 

Liotot,  a  surgeon,  sets  out  with  La 
Salle  for  Canada,  355,  359,  360; 
murders  Moranget,  361;  murders 
La  Salle,  363;  insults  owr  his  life- 
less body,  364;  seizes  his  property, 
370;  is  killed  by  Ruter,  380 

Louisi  ma,  possession  of  it  taken  by 
La  Salle  for  Louis  XIV.,  282;  what 
was  included  in  the  transaction,  283, 
284;  what  the  name  included  on 
French  maps.  411,  412 

'•  Lover's  Leap,"  on  the  Upper  Missis- 
sippi, 250  note. 

M. 

Manitom,  or  Indian  gods,  described, 

17,33,59,  246  note. 
Map  of  Champlain,  406. 

,,    „   Franquelin  described,  410. 

„    „  Galinee,  405. 

„    „  the  Jesuits,  406-408. 


INDEX. 


423 


Map  of  Joliet,  408. 
„    „   Marquette,  407. 
„    „   Minet,  the  engineer,  330  note. 
„    „   Raft'eix,  410. 
„    „   Randin,  410. 
„    „  La  Salle,  406. 

Margrv,  Pierre,  his  investigations,  iv. 
2,  19,  24,  25,  49,  303,  313,  330,  393, 
399. 

Marquette,  Jacques,  a  Jesuit  mission- 
ary, his  birth  and  education,  50 ;  his 
character,  ib  ;  intense  devotion  to 
the  Virgin,  ib. ;  goes  to  the  Upper 
Lakes,  51;  his  simple  outfit,  ib. ;  at 
La  Pointe  mi  Lake  Superior,  18,  30; 
at  Michillimackinac,  31,  49;  accom- 
panies Joliet  in  his  great  voyage  of 
discover}-,  49;  at  Green  Bay,  52; 
the  Wisconsin,  51;  the  Mississippi 
discovered,  55;  descends  that  great 
river,  55-64 ;  visits  a  town  of  the 
Illinois  tribe,  56;  their  kind  recep- 
tion of  him,  57;  sees  two  frightful 
idols  near  Alton,  59;  passes  the  Mis- 
souri, 60 ;  the  Ohio,  ib. ;  the  Arkan- 
sas, 62;  preaches  to  the  Arkansas 
Indians,  63;  on  his  return  is  severe- 
ly ill,  64;  at  Green  Bay,  67;  founds 
a  mission  at  Kaskaskia,  69 ;  dies  on 
his  return,  70 ;  buried  with  much 
ceremony  at  Mackinaw,  71;  attend- 
ant miracles.  71  note ;  his  journal 
and  map  lately  republished,  65 
note  ;  his  map  described,  407. 

Marshall,  Orsamus  H.,  his  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  Niagara  frontier, 
134  note. 

Matagorda  Bay  in  Texas,  La  Salle 
lands  there,  325. 

Membre,  Zenobe,  a  friar,  accompanies 
La  Salle,  137,  168,  172,  176,  207;  his 
vanity,  210  note;  with  Tonty,  213; 
meets  La  Salle,  268  ;  accompanies 
him  down  the  Mississippi,  272;  his 
printed  narrative,  ib.  note,  227;  at- 
tends La  Salle  in  his  sickness,  286; 
joins  his  great  expedition  from 
France,  310;  in  Texas,  330,  353;  his 
fate,  400. 

"  Memoire  sur  Monsieur  de  la  Salle," 
101;  its  presumed  author,  ib.  note; 
its  account  of  La  Salle,  102;  its 
statements  respecting  Jesuit  ascend- 
ency in  Canada,  l><:>;  and  the  Je- 
suit- as  engaged  in  trade  with  the 
Imlians,  l')4;  represents  La  Salle  as 
the  discoverer  of  the  Mississippi,  21, 
106;  speaks  of  the  intrigues  of  the 
Jesuits  and  other  enemies  of  La 
Salle,  107. 

Minora,  a  Jesuit,  visits  Lake  Superior, 
ix. 


Miami  tribe  of  Indmns,  33,  39,  54,  161 ; 
allies  of  the  Iroquois,  209;  La  Salle 
meets  them  in  council,  266 :  they  re- 
sort to  him  for  protection,  265,  290. 

Michigan,  Luke,  19,  21,  27,  52,  70; 
known  as  Lac  des  Illinois,  Lac  St. 
Joseph,  and  Lac  Dauphin,  143  note ; 
voyage  of  La  Salle  upon  it,  143;  a 
terrific  gale  there,  144. 

Michillimackinac,  31,  32,  49,  70,  71; 
visited  by  La  Salle,  141;  centre  of 
the  Indian  trade,  ib. 

Missionary  stations,  how  constructed, 
35. 

Mississippi  river,  discovered  by  Joliet, 
23,  24;  La  Salle  descends  it,  273  et 
seq. ;  discovers  its  outlet,  281;  its 
encroachments  on  the  sea,  412. 

Missouri  river,  discovered  by  Joliet 
and  Marquette,  60. 

Monso,  a  Mascoutin  chief,  his  in- 
trigues, 161. 

Montreal,  a  seigniory  of  St.  Sulpice,  4; 
its  exposed  position,  ib. ;  its  appear- 
ance in  1666,  6. 

Moranget,  nephew  of  La  Salle,  323, 
3z8,  330,  343,  347;  sets  out  with 
him  for  Canada,  355,  359;  quarrels 
with  Duhaut,  359,  360;  is  murdered 
by  him,  361. 


N. 


Natchez  tribe  of  Indians,  279;  their 
singular  customs,  ib.  note;  expelled 
from  their  country,  280  note;  hostile 
to  La  Salle,  285. 

New  Biscay,  Mexican  province,  La 
Salle  proposes  to  attack  it,  305-307. 

Niagara,  cataract  of,  described,  118, 
126;  discovery  thereof,  127  note; 
variations  of  the  name,  ib. 

Niagara  River,  on  which  side  of  it  was 
the  vessel  of  La  Salle  built?  133 
note. 

Nicanope,  an  Illinois  chief,  162,  164. 

Nicollet,  Jean,  partially  explores  the 
North-west,  visits  the  Winnebagoes, 
and  descends  the  Wisconsin,  viii. 

Nika,  a  Shawanoe  hunter,  accom- 
panies La  Salle,  347;  sets  out  with 
him  for  Canada,  356,  360;  is  mur- 
dered by  Duhaut  and  others,  361. 

o. 

Ohio  River,  erroneous  theories  con- 
cerning it,  8 ;  discovered  by  La 
Salle,  20-23;  meaning  of  the  name, 
23  note,  60,  407. 


424 


INDEX. 


Ontario,   Lake,   visited  by  La  Salle 

12,  15. 
Outagamies.    See  Fox  Indians. 


"Paraguay,"  attempt  by  the  Jesuits 
to  establish  another  in 'North  Amer- 
ica, 97;  what  did  the  scheme  in- 
clude, ib. 

Peoria,  Lake,  La  Salle  reaches  it,  158, 
195 ;  origin  of  the  name,  ib.  note. 

Pepin,  Lake,  visited  by  Hennepin,  237. 

Perrot,  governor  of  Montreal,  76 ;  en- 
gages in  the  fur-trade,  77;  gross 
abuses  sanctioned  by  him,  ib. ;  im- 
prisoned by  Frontenac,  92. 

Perrot,  Nicolas,  the  explorer,  meets 
La  Salle,  21 ;  sets  out  on  a  voyage 
of  discovery,  39 ;  his  character,  ib.  ; 
attempts  to  poison  La  Salle,  110. 

Pierron,  a  Jesuit  missionary,  109. 

Pierson,  a  Jesuit  missionary,  257. 

Poisoning,  prevalent  in  La  Salle's 
time,  165. 

Prairie  du  Chien,  first  visited  by  Joliet 
and  Marquette,  55. 

Prudhomme,  Pierre,  lost  in  the  woods, 
273 ;  a  fort  named  for  him,  274 ;  La 
Salle's  sickness  there,  285. 


R. 


Ribonrde,  Gabriel,  a  friar,  120,  125, 
137;  his  perilous  voyage  on  Lake 
Michigan,  145;  is  with  La  Salle  on 
the  Illinois.  172;  with  Tonty,  207, 
213;  murdered  by  Indians,  216. 

Eiggs,  Rev.  Stephen  K.,  missionary 
among  the  Sioux,  240  note. 

Rock  of  St.  Louis,  or  "  Starved  Rock," 
156,  177,  204.    See  "  Starved  Rock." 

Ruter,  a  Breton  sailor,  adopts  the 
savage  modes  of  life,  376;  meets 
Joutel,  ib. ;  kills  the  assassin  Liotot, 
380. 

s. 

Sablonniere,  Marquis,  325,  331,  344, 
345;  held  in  contempt,  353. 

Sagean,  Mathieu,  his  pretended  dis- 
covery of  an  El  Dorado  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  413-416. 

"  Sainte  Famille,"  a  sort  of  female  in- 
quisition in  Quebec,  105,  106  note. 

Seignelay,  Marquis  of,  Minister  of 
Marine  and  the  Colonies,  296;  La 
Barre  writes  to  him,  297 ;  La  Salle's 
memorial  addressed  to  him,  303-306. 


Seneca  Indians,  La  Salle  visits  them, 
13;  unwilling  that  he  should  build 
a  fort  at  Niagara,  127;  consult  on 
the  affair  in  council,  128;  their  con- 
sent obtained,  130. 

Shea,  J.  G.,  his  investigations  of 
Canadian  history,  49  note,  65  note, 
71  note,  72  note,  384  note,  413. 

Ship-building,  the  first  on  the  Upper 
Lakes,  132  et  seq. ;  the  locality 
ascertained,  133  note ;  names  of  the 
workmen,  134  note;  the  workmen 
discontented,  135;  the  vessel 
launched,  136;  ship-building  in  the 
heart  of  the  present  State  of  Illinois, 
171. 

Sioux  Indians,  30;  expel  the  fugitive 
Hurons  and  Ottawas,  31;  Hennepin 
and  his  companions  prisoners  among 
them,  231  et  seq. ;  divisions  of  the 
tribe,  240  note;  their  numbers,  ib. 

Sodomy  practised  among  the  Indians, 
206  note. 

South-Sea  passage  to  China  sought  by 
La  Salle  and  other  early  explorers,  8. 

Spanish  hostility,  398;  expeditions  to 
find  and  destroy  La  Salle,  ib. ;  in- 
vasion of  Texas,  ib. 

Spanish  occupation,  relics  of,  found  in 
Texas,  337  note. 

St.  Anthony,  Falls  of,  first  visited  and 
named  by  Hennepin,  246;  changes 
in  these  falls,  ib.  note. 

St.  Bernard's  Bay.  See  Matagorda 
Bay. 

St.  Clair,  Lake,  voyage  of  La  Salle  up- 
on it,  140 ;  the  name  perverted,  ib. 

St.  Esprit,  a  Jesuit  mission  at  La 
Pointe,  18,  30,  61,  71. 

St.  Ignace,  a  mission  of  the  Jesuits, 
49,  71,  141. 

St.  Joseph  river,  visited  by  La  Salle, 
149,  151,  179,  189. 

St.  Louis,  fort,  built  by  La  Salle,  288, 
290  note.     See  ^Starved  Ruck.'' 

St.  Louis  of  Texas,  336,  398 ;  St.  Louis 
Bay,  324. 

St.  Lusson,  Daumont  de,  goes  to  Lake 
Superior  to  search  for  copper  mines, 
38,  39;  pretends  to  take  possession 
for  France  of  the  entire  West,  41 ; 
returns  to  Quebec,  45. 

St.  Marie  du  Saut,  a  Jesuit  mission 
there,  18,  29. 

St.  Sulpice,  Seminar}'  of,  a  corporation 
of  priests,  owner  of  Montreal,  4; 
their  mission  on  Lake  Ontario,  10. 

"  Starved  Rock,"  near  Ottawa,  111., 
156,  177,  205 ;  described,  287 ;  forti- 
fied by  La  Salle,  288;  its  identity 
with  the  "Rock  of  St.  Louis"  es- 
tablished, 221,  288  note,  290  note; 


INDEX. 


425 


whence  the  name,  289  note ;  the  In- 
dians collect  around  it,  290;  their 
numbers,  290  note;  its  later  history, 
397  note. 
Superior,  Lake,  29;  map  of,  19,  28; 
visited  by  Jogues  and  Raymbault, 
1641,  ix. ;  well  known  to  the  Jesuits, 
406. 

T. 

Taensas  Indians  in  Louisiana,  their 
great  town  visited  by  La  Salle,  276 : 
their  chief  descended  from  the  Sun, 
279. 

Talon,  Jean,  Intendant  of  Canada,  fa- 
vors the  designs  of  La  Salle,  9 ;  sends 
Joliet  to  Lake  Superior,  14;  his  char- 
acter, 37 ;  his  plans,  ib. ;  returns  to 
France,  46. 

Talon,  Jean  Baptiste,  in  Texas,  taken 
by  the  Spaniards,  400,  401. 

Talon,  Pierre,  in  Texas,  taken  by  the 
Spaniards,  400,  401. 

Teissier,  a  pilot,  accompanies  La  Salle, 
356,  360;  abets  the  murder  of  La 
Salle,  363;  accompanies  Joutel  on 
his  way  to  Canada,  382. 

Texas,  first  mention  of  the  name,  399 
note  ;  Spanish  invasion  of,  398 ;  ruin 
of  the  French  settlement  there,  399. 

Tontine,  a  form  of  life  insurance,  deri- 
vation of  the  word,  117. 

Tonty,  Henri  de,  comes  to  Canada  as 
an  assistant  to  La  Salle,  117;  his 
iron  hand,  118  note;  trusted  by  La 
Salle,  130;  commands  at  Niagara  in 
La  Salle's  absence,  135 ;  sent  up 
Lake  Erie,  142;  at  Detroit  joins  the 
"  Griffin,"  142  note  ;  his  disasters  on 
Lake  Michigan,  150;  accompanies 
La  Salle  into  the  Illinois  country, 
168;  left  by  him  at  Fort  Crevecceur, 
174;  in  peril  among  the  Indians, 
209;  attempts  to  mediate  in  an 
Indian  fi<_'ht,  210;  is  wounded,  211 ; 
his  intrepidity,  212;  stops  the  fight, 
213 ;  proceeds  up  the  river  Illinois, 
216;   arrives    at    Green   Bay,   219; 


meets  La  Salle  at  Michillimackinac, 
268;  with  him  descends  the  Missis- 
sippi to  its  mouth,  281;  at  Michilli- 
mackinac, 285,  287;  at  ''Starved 
Rock,"  288;  left  in  command  there, 
300;  descends  the  Mississippi  in 
hope  of  meeting  La  Salle,  3»5;  as- 
sists Denonville  in  the  Iroquois  war, 
391;  is  grossly  deceived  by  Cave- 
lier,  ib. ;  hears  of  the  death  of  La 
Salle,  394;  attempts  to  rescue  the 
Frenchmen  left  in  Texas,  ib.  ;  his 
difficulties  ai.d  hardships,  396;  the 
attempt  fails,  ib. ;  his  character,  397 
note ;  his  memory  vindicated,  ib.  ; 
Mr.  Sparks  desired  that  justice 
should  he  done  to  it,  ib. 

Trinity  River  in  Texas,  348,  359 ;  death 
of  La  Salle  on  a  branch  of  it,  36". 

Tropic,  crossing  of  the,  316. 

V. 

Vermilion  River,  205,  210. 

Vermilion  Sea,  Gulf  of  California  so 
called,  9,  28,  64,  409. 

Violation  of  the  dead  by  Iroquois  In- 
dians, 192,  217. 

Virgin  Marv  worshipped,  28,  50,  51, 
61,  64,  69,"  70. 

Voyages  of  discover}'  made  without 
cost  to  the  government,  38,  39. 

w. 

Winnebago  Indians,  viii.  32. 

Wisconsin  River,  discovered  by  Joliet 
and  Marquette,  54;  the  scenery  de- 
scribed, ib. 

Wood,  Colonel,  of  Virginia,  said  to 
have  readied  a  branch  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi in  1654,  viii. 

Worship  of  stone  idols,  16,  33,  59;  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  28,  50,  51,  61,  64, 
69,  70;  of  the  deceased  Marquette, 
71,  72  notes  ;  of  Saint  Anthony,  140, 
230,  239;  of  the  Sun,  277. 


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